Amelia, Worm AU [Complete]

[Daunmi]

That's a gimme

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Did you mean "That's a given" or are they playing golf?

It would be a real twist for the Endmaker to not be Eidolon in this fic. It's accepted fanon, and there's some good circumstantial evidence for it in canon, but it's never outright confirmed. So there's always the possibility of some lunatic Tinker hiding under the Earth, building these things.

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He doesn't make them, regardless, they're already all in place or something like that. He triggers their actions somewhat. It'd be a tinker, somewhere on earth, making devices they have no idea of the function of, but when they get activated they do something to the endbringers.

Alternatively, it's still Cauldrons fault. Their poking around at Eden's corpse is what's doing it.

Alternatively it's everyone in the world's fault. Any time people are too hopeful another Endbringer starts up. Jack Slash, and others like him, are the real heroes, just trying to stop the Endbringers from coming. Amelia and Taylor doomed the world by killing him and others like him.

 

[cosoco]

lense

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lens

Alternatively it's everyone in the world's fault. Any time people are too hopeful another Endbringer starts up. Jack Slash, and others like him, are the real heroes, just trying to stop the Endbringers from coming. Amelia and Taylor doomed the world by killing him and others like him.

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It's not too late! Have abusive parents adopt Amelia! Have a bunch of middle-schoolers beat up Taylor and take her lunch money! Staple some tentacles onto Sveta!

 

[TanaNari]

Amelia, Ch 269


The gray mist remained trapped in the shields. The moment those shields dropped, it would pour into the ground and consume a mass of area almost as large as the crater lake we built our first base from. The phalanx moved, slowly, pulling the forcefield along with it.


"We're going to dump it in the bay," Taylor told me, and everyone else. "Safer that way."


Then the shields flashed, the sign that some of the phalanx shields, at least, had been broken. The Endbringer was still alive in there! "Oh mother fucker."


PanicHorrorFailure. "I can't see where it's going to attack, I won't be able to reinforce the shields that need it," Taylor muttered. She hit the armband. "All units, withdraw from range immediately, it's going to break free!"


Oh fuck. Come on, Amelia, there has to be something that can be done. "Missy, Sabah, Lily, think you can get another barricade around it?" It was only after I gave the command that I realized I used their actual names. Luckily I asked through our com system, not the wristbands.


"On it," Missy responded immediately. Sabah didn't say anything, but shunted over anyway. I trusted them to figure out the details. After all, they knew how to use their powers better than I did.


People started falling back, moving their shields to protect them. Only the zerg and the robots remained, and they were quickly running out of strength to hold back the barriers, but they were buying time for the Moirai to do their part. Infused ribbons charged with Lily's power started moving through the area, right ouside the forcefield itself. They wouldn't last very long, but they weren't meant to. A couple more flashes and a lot of the phalanx started falling back, their power depleted for the time being.


The ribbon barrier was established slowly, but it was established. I wasn't sure how they even found a way to use Missy's power on something that was influenced by Lily's, much less leaving it in such a state that Sabah could actual control it, but they figured it out.


There was one more flash, and then the gray nanothorn dust leaked over the top of the ribbons, but most of it was already being annihilated by Lily's power as it spread out onto the effect. The Endbringer leapt over the top of the barricade, moving so fast that I only knew it happened by the dust cloud that followed her.


Alexandria hit her in mid air, stopping her in place for a barrage of blasts from Legend. Somehow, this time, they didn't pass through. They exploded on impact, leaving cracks in the glass body. Eidolon took another stream of shots with his disintigration power, which didn't accomplish much. And our own blaster set let loose with the ice weapons. I noted the old version of Eki's suit in the mix. Aunt Sarah's out there fighting, too.


A pair of arms stretched out and grabbed the airborne Endbringer, then there was a shattering of glass as the owner pulled herself toward the thing, slamming into it hard enough to smash right through the frozen body, quite a bit more than Alexandria had been able to do. Victoria caught her in the air.


"Holy shit," the tin-man, Genuis Loci, muttered. "Little Sveta can do that? How fast was she going?"


"Four thousand one hundred and twelve kilometers per hour," Clarice answered. "Approximately three and a quarter times the speed of sound."


"I don't know how she can do that and still be afraid of arresting a freakin' mugger," he laughed.


"Ever stepped on a tube of tooth paste?" Crystal asked. "That's why she's afraid. Now get off the open channel!"


Streams of energy washed over the Endbringer's mass, as the blasters did their best to make sure the thing never put itself back together.


Nearby, a mile wide area vanished into rainbow dust, pulling itself together to form a new body for the Endbringer. The armbands started naming names. Everyone caught in the area, reduced to mass for the monster. The one saving grace, as such, is there weren't a lot of heroes caught in the effect, the zerg were there to do the dying. The Endbringer's figure was now a little on the larger side. Not really fat, but curvy at least.


"It just ate over two hundred of the EB cats," Taylor informed us. "They're no more resistant to her than anything else."


"Endbringer being temporarily designated as Wendigo," Dragon spoke over the coms. The hell is a wendigo? I wondered. Probably something really unpleasant.


More streams of energy hit it, and it seemed to almost casually shrug the attacks off this time, as opposed to before when they cut through it. Eidolon's attack was the only one that still got through the body, and that didn't seem to do any actual damage to the thing at all.


Sveta used her slingshot attack again. Damn she's fast. Slamming into the Endbringer's head hard enough to slam it face first into the earth it was standing on. She jumped away, and the zerg were on it. Two of the gargants locked their tusks around her arms, and a pair more got in lower, grappling her hips, holding her mostly upside down. They pushed into each other, attempting to crush her between them. She gripped one's tusks and actually lifted the thing off the ground and threw it toward the defenders, who were forced to dive for cover. A kick sent another gargant skidding back into a building that collapsed on top of it and a few others.


She then slammed the one remaining holding her upper body into the one that had the lower, shattering the asphalt beneath them. The message was clear, she was a lot fucking stronger than the zerg. Fuck, the strength she just demonstrated was greater than even Behemoth had ever shown.


Alexandria got in a good hit while it was distracted with smashing our supermonsters, although now her weapons only cut grooves into it instead of impaling it completely. She dodged a backhanded swing narrowly. If it weren't for Vicky's upgrades, would she be able to avoid the attacks like that? Sveta grabbed one of those damaged zerg and used it to hammer the Endbringer into the earth, buying Alexandria another opening to stab it in the eye. Didn't make much real difference, but damn did it look satisfying to see the Endbringer with a spear sticking out of its face.


"It's getting tougher with each new iteration," Lisa replied. "Stepping up its strategy for more durability and destructive potential. Losing speed, though. The early stages are meant to test attacker strategies and adapt against them. The late stages will show its actual power."


"Stages?" I asked. Meanwhile, the battle raged on. Dragon took her opportunity, raining exotic energy beams down on the creature and hammering it with projectiles that could crack a mountain. It was well past the point where nanothorns were a valid weapon, but a few of those were used as well.


"This is its stage four. We did enough damage so fast that we didn't even get to see stage three for more than a few seconds," Lisa replied. "I'm placing my bets on a total of six stages, each approximately twice as strong and resilient than the last."


Our blasters did their thing, switching rapidly between cold and sonic or heat to maximize damage to the thing's body. They were finally making progress, showing microfractures in the monster's body. They are wearing it down, at least.


"It's already insanely durable," I complained. "Aren't these things suppose to have tradeoffs? Like, they can't be good at everything?"


"It's also close to the slowest," Lisa pointed out. "It hasn't managed to kill anyone outside of its reforming into the next stage. I know it sounds insane, but this thing is a step in the right direction. More property damage, less casualties."


Alexandria and Sveta opted for a bit of a teamup next, another sling-attack. Sveta gripped it and pulled them in, with Alexandria more or less riding in her lap, carrying two of her spear weapons. Both spears impaled deep into its gut, and it was stagged back into a building.


AngerDisgust. "I wouldn't be so quick to say that, Lisa," Taylor growled. "There were still over five thousand civilians still in that part of the city. And if the next time it does the same thing, it'll be the as bad or worse."


"It'll reach about three and a half miles, next time," Lisa replied. "And ten, for the final event."


"Ten miles? That's all of Brockton Bay!" I exclaimed. "There's still way over a hundred thousand people in there, and it'll kill every last one of them."


"So you see the problem," Lisa sighed. "This one's game? It's psychological. The whole city is its hostage. We hit it, really hit it, force it to move into its next level of strength, and in exchange the city dies. Or, we play softball with the fucker. Fight it how Endbringers have been fought before, let it demolish the city and leave after its had its fill of killing people. If we give it all of that, and we're lucky, it'll never step up to stage five or six." FrustrationRageGuilt.


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A/N- Step 1 of inventing your own Endbringers: ask how you can piss on everyone's parade. Step 2- Ask if there's something funnier than piss to use instead.

 

[Diller]

Wow Eidolon's subconscious has gotten really fucking creative in "ways to be a an asshole."

i wonder if it's a side effect of how Eidolon's
gotten more competent in using his powers after his talk with Panthenon.

Still got to give Sveta props. Girl is putting that work in.

 

[the DragonBard]

Immobilize it somehow, then drop a blanket infused with Sting on it.
Hopefully destroy it completely enough won't be anything left to reform.

 

[Snake/Eater]

I'm going to post Bob Dylan's "All around the Watchtower" as covered by Devlin and featuring Ed Shreeran.Outside in the cold distance,A wild cat did growl,Two riders were approaching,And the wind began to howl.....

 

[Rolo]

Immobilize it somehow, then drop a blanket infused with Sting on it.
Hopefully destroy it completely enough won't be anything left to reform.

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That would work on everything though. And I mean everything, Scion too.

 

[cyberswordsmen]

Fanon. And disproven by canon, at that. Aleph and Dalet both were worlds identical to Bet, with the exception that Scion didn't happen to them. And Dalet broke off at the point where communication was made with Aleph. Were it not for that, all three would be indistinguishable from each other.

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I'm pretty sure Dalet is something Materia Blade made up for Copacetic.

Dimensions splitting can't be something that happens too often because if the entities don't have dimensional analoges then parahumans can't either as there is only one passenger, and they can't handle infinity parahumans.

I believe the canon comment was that Aleph (30 year difference) was the closest dimension anyone has ever been able to access. Whether this is because they haven't figured out how to access the closer ones or if they don't exist isn't known.

 

[dasstan]

manothorns

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Oh my.

Endbringer chapters are rapidly becoming banal. Not because you're a bad writer, but because there is only so much [ENDBRINGER] appears, [ENDBRINGER] does stuff, Pantheon responds, [ENDBRINGER] does weird stuff, Lisa Expounds, Chapter ends on a 'we're fucked' note, that I can take before I just start skimming. Having everyone die last time was kind of refreshing, really, but I know that you can't use that gimmick too much, either.

 

[Daunmi]

It's not too late! Have abusive parents adopt Amelia! Have a bunch of middle-schoolers beat up Taylor and take her lunch money!

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That sounds familiar. Almost as if I've read about them being in those sorts of situations before...

Staple some tentacles onto Sveta!

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Ouch. That's kind of really mean for the poor girl too.

"Endbringer being temporarily designated as Wendigo,"

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Somebody needs to start naming these things with names that don't encourage people to panic. Seriously, talk about a moral killer.

Nice to see that Eidolon's getting back to trying to force himself to be stronger, now that he's got a fix for the power source problem. I mean, all it costs is a city each time. That's nothing, ey Eidolon?

 

[dasstan]

Somebody needs to start naming these things with names that don't encourage people to panic. Seriously, talk about a moral killer.

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Wendy. To go with Fred.

 

[cosoco]

airborn

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airborne

manothorns

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nanothorns

A/N- Step 1 of inventing your own Endbringers: ask how you can piss on everyone's parade. Step 2- Ask if there's something funnier than piss to use instead.

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Prediction: The next Endbringer will fire a ray that causes everyone hit with it to taste nothing but Circus Peanuts for the rest of their life.

 

[Masked Menace]

The shrinks say they run on my subconscious fantasies of what fantasy creatures are suppose to act like. Through the lens of a twelve year old. I don't like summoning the ones that can talk."

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Personally I don't think this bit reads very well, it's a bit clunky with the two sentences. I would suggest;

The shrinks say they run on my subconscious belief of what fantasy creatures are suppose to act like. Through the lens of a twelve year old." She paused for a moment "I don't like summoning the ones that can talk."

I think it needs a slight seperation between those two sentences as they don't flow naturally into each other.

 

[powerofvoid]

nanothorns

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No, I think "MANothorns" sounds pretty funny.

 

[Snake/Eater]

The shrinks say they run on my subconscious belief of what fantasy creatures are suppose to act like. Through the lens of a twelve year old." She paused for a moment "I don't like summoning the ones that can talk."

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makes you wonder what they say....

 

[Ack]

So ... move the Endbringer elsewhere THEN beat the snot out of it?

 

[Masked Menace]

you know what would be a real troll from TanaNari? having it not be Eidolon making the Endbringers.

 

[Daunmi]

So ... move the Endbringer elsewhere THEN beat the snot out of it?

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Khepri: I vote China. Anyone disagree? No? Right, lets go!

you know what would be a real troll from TanaNari? having it not be Eidolon making the Endbringers.

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Too simple. Eidolon's being controlled by the Endbringers to make him want to get stronger so that they have worthy opponents. Scion wasn't talking to Eidolon in that interlude, he was letting the Endbringers know that he knew what was happening whilst at the same time saying something that would temporarily disable Eidolon.

 

[Snake/Eater]

why cant they just get labyrinth to change the portals destination?

 

[Ack]

Somebody needs to start naming these things with names that don't encourage people to panic. Seriously, talk about a morale killer.

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FTFY. The other way meant something a little different

So, names.

Behemoth = Billy-Bob
Leviathan = Surfer Dude
Simurgh = That Weird Chick With The Wings
Khonsu = Fat Boy
Tohu/Bohu = Party Poopers
Barghest = Junkyard Dog
Wendigo = Skinny Chick

 

[cosoco]

why cant they just get labyrinth to change the portals destination?

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They can. I'm not sure what bearing that has on the current situation, though.

 

[Daunmi]

FTFY. The other way meant something a little different

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... God damn it...

Behemoth = Billy-Bob
Leviathan = Surfer Dude
Simurgh = That Weird Chick With The Wings
Khonsu = Fat Boy
Tohu/Bohu = Party Poopers
Barghest = Junkyard Dog
Wendigo = Skinny Chick

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I like most of them, but 'That Weird Chick With The Wings' is too long, so I'm just going to call her 'Chicken Wings' instead.

And Fat Boy's both a negative name for anyone who remembers WWII or people who're fat. And boys. Didn't someone use 'Buddha knockoff' to describe him in canon? That'll work!

 

[Snake/Eater]

... God damn it...


I like most of them, but 'That Weird Chick With The Wings' is too long, so I'm just going to call her 'Chicken Wings' instead.

And Fat Boy's both a negative name for anyone who remembers WWII or people who're fat. And boys. Didn't someone use 'Buddha knockoff' to describe him in canon? That'll work!

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i don't know....there might be some Buddhists on qq that would be offended.

 

[powerofvoid]

I like most of them, but 'That Weird Chick With The Wings' is too long, so I'm just going to call her 'Chicken Wings' instead.

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They think she's dead, so it's okay if her name is a bit awkward.

 

[Daunmi]

i don't know....there might be some Buddhists on qq that would be offended.

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They think she's dead, so it's okay if her name is a bit awkward.

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Both good points.

 

[The Shadowmind]

Man-O'-Thorns.

 

[Peanuckle]

"So you see the problem," Lisa sighed. "This one's game? It's psychological. The whole city is its hostage. We hit it, really hit it, force it to move into its next level of strength, and in exchange the city dies. Or, we play softball with the fucker. Fight it how Endbringers have been fought before, let it demolish the city and leave after its had its fill of killing people. If we give it all of that, and we're lucky, it'll never step up to stage five or six." FrustrationRageGuilt.

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That's really clever. Rather than try to beat Pantheon's powers, which is getting more and more difficult to do, it forces them to not use those powers. And it'll never show up in a low-value area where that ability would be useless.

 

[Dude]

Man it'd be nice to have some Endslayers around here.

 

[Daunmi]

Man it'd be nice to have some Endslayers around here.

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They've got them. They're there, helping out.

Rather than try to beat Pantheon's powers, which is getting more and more difficult to do, it forces them to not use those powers.

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Even better, it's forcing them to think. Which has usually resulted in all new combos and abominations, so yay!

 

[Ack]

... God damn it...


I like most of them, but 'That Weird Chick With The Wings' is too long, so I'm just going to call her 'Chicken Wings' instead.

And Fat Boy's both a negative name for anyone who remembers WWII or people who're fat. And boys. Didn't someone use 'Buddha knockoff' to describe him in canon? That'll work!

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I notice that you're not objecting to "Skinny Chick". Which is negative toward people who are skinny, and chicks.