Amelia, Worm AU [Complete]

[Snake/Eater]

I think DeviantD is female?
And TanaNari is a duck.

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,Whatever DeviantD is,i hope that person gets better .I've had the blues without any treatment or meds and it's rough to wake up in the morning and wonder if you can get pass that funk,i'm passed it but i now get moments of pure rage to cope for all of the lost time spent, like not learning how to appreciate being in Paris and going meh when i was under the Eiffel tower.

 

[pepperjack]

And TanaNari is a dick.

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Fixed that for you.

 

[cosoco]

Yup. Speaking of... whatever happened to DeviantD?

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Lack of writing inspiration: http://forums.spacebattles.com/members/deviantd.295391/
Also running a quest: http://forum.questionablequesting.com/threads/atelophobia.966/

 

[Finbar]

Scarring, not scaring.

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A little from Column A......and little from column B....

 

[TanaNari]

Amelia, Ch 292- Crystal


"Our intel from the PRT shows the Elite are getting pretty active in the area. They've pulled in three more parahumans from other cities. Mantellum's the scary one for us. Shaker-Trump. Nullifes pretty much any power near him or directed at him, including precogs. Genius Loci, considering how your power works... you're under orders to avoid him at all costs. It might kill you if you're in range of his power."


"Got it," his voice was a soft rumble through the building. His prefered state of being.


"Sveta, you too," I added. "His power might interact with yours in a way that makes you revert."


Her eyes widened. The girl had night terrors about returning to her form before Victoria restored her. "I promise I'll avoid him."


"Good," I nodded. "Anima, Clotho, Dubstep. The three of you have powers that simply won't work against him. But his power doesn't seem to influence tinker tech, so your armors should remain functional. Don't rely on it, we don't know how it'll interact with the EB reactors. If we're forced to fight him, my powers and weapons are probably our best option. Or contacting the PRT. We know he's not immune to containment foam. I've already put in requests for some for us. Dragon's working on at a containment foam dispenser in Echo."


"That'll be useful," Derek responded. In this group, he was the one with the least combat viability right now. Sonic manipulation and amplification. It made him one of our better Thinkers, actually, able to hear heartbeats from half a block away, but his blaster power took a lot of time to build up into something effective, and when it did it exploded with force enough to shatter concrete. He didn't have a nonlethal setting.


Echo would be his named armor, once it was completed. Capable of interacting with his power to create a mile wide echolocation, harness his power's effect as a supplemental power supply, and inhibit his explosions to make them more controllable. His layout would be somewhat of a balance between mine and Sabah's, capable of an array of close and long range attacks, plus some sensory abilities.


"Boost," I looked at our newest recruit. "If you don't mind, I'd like to get you in for power testing this week. Our Tinkers are interested in your power. If we're lucky, they might find ways to improve it and make you more effective."


"Sure, I could use a break from sunny warm California to go to the frozen hell of New England winter," he smirked. The guy wasn't my favorite member. A gym rat who used his healing powers more as functional steroids for him and his buddies rather than, say, healing the sick. He wasn't a bad person, near as I could tell. Just not someone I had a lot of respect for. Having him was useful, but I'd be happy to see him placed somewhere else.


"It'll be on Avalon," I reminded him. "I think you'd like it there. The ground itself is health food."


"Yer shittin' me," he replied.


"Absolutely serious," I responded. "High iron, calcium and various other minerals. Approved by multiple biotinkers and two of the most powerful biothinkers on the planet. If they say it's healthy, I believe it."


"Baller," he responded. I had no idea what that meant, but I assumed it was a positive response. "Think I can bring some back for my buddies?"


"Don't see why not," I answered.


....


"If you want me to leave so Lily can join the team after she's done with the portals, I'll understand" Sabah sobbed. "I'm sure they can find something else for me to do. Or I can just go back and finish my degree."


I let her finish, then gave her a hug. Probably not the most professional way of handling things, but screw professionalism, she needed the comfort. "You don't have to worry about that. You are an integral part of this team. My team. I'm not trading you out just because Lily dumped you."


"Really," she looked at me like she was surprised by the answer. "But she's... she's so much better than I am..."


"Not from where I'm sitting, she's not," I responded. "Yeah, sure, she's the more outright deadly option, but that's only useful when you want to kill someone. Who was the last enemy we had where lethal force was an option? Endbringers don't count." Plus Lily is an emotionally needy wreck, has a history of discipline problems, and Lisa has other things she plans to use our primary Endslayer for. If anything, I'm lucky they broke up so I didn't get stuck with the choice of both or neither, because I'm not sure which would suck more.


Sabah, meanwhile, was chewing over the question I asked. "I don't know. The Fallen?"


"Exactly," I answered. "I didn't even lead a team during that mission, and I never want to. Someone else can do the killing, or giving those kinds of orders. I just don't have it in me to do that."


"She has nonlethal options, too," Sabah argued.


"As a ranged fighter? Yes," I agreed. "But nothing Anima can't do. Defensively? If you can't handle it, I'm more than willing to call Alexandria for help. And chances are Victoria will be done with her assignment soon, or at least it'll be reduced to a part time thing. After that, I'll have her back on the team. I'm not saying Lily wouldn't be useful." Though I'm certainly thinking it loudly. "But I'd rather have you. You're the one that stepped up to help me after Vicky got reassigned. You're the one that connected with independent heroes and rogues like Anima and Boost. I wouldn't trade you for anyone."


She smiled. "If you're sure."


"Go get into your armor and kick up the lie detection if you don't believe me," I responded.


"Thank you," she hugged me back. "I'm sorry, you probably think I'm being a drama queen."


"Not really," I replied. "But I grew up around Vicky and Amy. Compared to those two, there's not much that qualifies as drama. Now don't worry about your place on this team. It's here as long as you want it. And now that we have all of that out of the way, don't be afraid to talk to the team. They're your friends too, you know. You're allowed to come to any of us if you need it."


"I think that was part of the problem," Sabah sighed. "She didn't like how friendly I was with Beth."


Lily's the jealous type? "Can't say that surprises me," I agreed. "You two do have a lot in common." Which is something Sabah and Lily never had going for them. It didn't take Lisa to see that. "Just do me a favor and wait a while before starting up another office romance. It's really not good for team discipline."


She flinched a little.


"Sabah, please tell me you and Beth aren't..."


"No!" she exclaimed. "No, Beth and I are just friends. There's nothing going on between us. There never was. She's not attracted to women."


"Okay, that's a relief," I responded. My concern was more about Anima being even more emotionally needy than Lily. That would have been the same story all over again. And where it was easy for me to pick between Sabah and Lily from a team dynamic, or even a friendship dynamic for that matter, being forced to choose between Anima and Clotho would have been a fucking nightmare for both strategy and morale.


The fact of the matter was I needed the two of them more than I needed the rest of the team combined. Competing with the Elite and Alexandria for recruits was a pain, and Pantheon's rep only carried me so far. Sabah was our poster child for affiliated rogues. Moreso than Dinah was or Anima could be. Not that those two weren't good for the image, but they were too powerful to represent what we needed. Not a lot of people could empathize with 'Master seven, shaker, striker, mover, blaster, and stranger subcategories' or 'strongest precog on the planet'. They could look at Clotho and imagine that if we found her valuable, we would find them valuable as well.


....


"Hey, Lisa," I spoke as she answered the phone.


"I see it went well," she replied.


"Yeah, pretty much just like you said," I answered. "So you can promise me Lily won't be coming to Cali?"


"Not unless something massively drastic happens," she assured me. "Don't worry, you are doing a great job out there and I have no desire to rock the boat. I'd rather spend my time worrying about actual problems instead. Besides, Lily is going to have her work cut out for a while."


"Thanks," I replied.


"Oh, I found your friend, Janet," she added. "She told me to say hello, and that her restraunt is doing well thanks to you. Taylor's planning to take Amelia there sometime this week to chat about new food designs. I think we've found our new takeout place, at least until someone builds a pizza joint around here."


"I knew they could do it," I responded. I was glad for her, this had been her dream ever since highschool. Plus or minus her home being destroyed by Endbringers twice in one year, moving to a different dimension, and cooking plants that only exist thanks to biomanipulation powers. "Tell Taylor to order the sourmelon pie next time she gets the chance. There are no words for how good it is."


"I'll let her know," Lisa agreed.


"Oh, and we need to schedule a power test with Boost soon," I remembered. "And if it's possible, maybe get Echo finished sooner rather than later."


"I'll send both messages along to our tech division," she answered.


======================


A/N- Mantellum struck me as the sort that'd wind up with a group like the Elite.

 

[Snake/Eater]

Wouldn't it make more sense to just shoot Mantellum with a regular handgun....it makes the most sense to kill or maim a power nullifer.

 

[SamPardi]

Wouldn't it make more sense to just shoot Mantellum with a regular handgun....it makes the most sense to kill or maim a power nullifer.

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Mantellum: All of you parahumans are powerless before me!

*Cop tazes him.*

Cop: You have the right to remain silent, anything you... (You know the rest.)

 

[Deathwings]

Huh, I was under the impression that Mantellum could only block mental powers (Master, Stanger and Thinker specifically) rather then all powers. Also his range is supposed to be tiny.

 

[metalax]

Just a query, Is there a reason for chapters 86 to 174 to be missing from the index?

One spelling error that jumped out at me.

Someone else can do the killing, or giving those kids of orders.

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Should be, kind of orders.

 

[pepperjack]

"Think I can bring some back for my buddies?"

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Oh, sure, why not? I can see the conversation with Customs now:

"Anything to declare?"

"Nope."

"Any fruits or vegetables?"

"Nah. Well, only this bag full of Yggdrasil clippings. It grows everywhere over there."

"... you're bringing across samples of the plant that spread across an entire planet in a matter of months?"

"Yeah, man."

"Why?"

"I figured my buddies and I would eat it."​

Later excerpts from Boost's Google search history: "invasive species," "inter-dimensional import export," "how do I find a good lawyer," "I want my phone call .mp4"

 

[Daunmi]

Oh, sure, why not? I can see the conversation with Customs now:

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Well, aside from it not surviving without Amelia's assistance, that was pretty damn funny.

Yup. Speaking of... whatever happened to DeviantD?

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Tis a sad fact of life that most fan works die before anything really happens.

Unfortunately, some of them are awesome and then die, which is even worse.

 

[GiftofLove]

Well, aside from it not surviving without Amelia's assistance, that was pretty damn funny.

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Pretty sure that Avalon Yggdrasil is made to last without Amelia. What with a whole planet suddenly dying otherwise. There were no ecosystems to worry about on their dead world after all.


Also I just realized. Poor Danny. Finally got his ferry, and then orbital bombardment happened.

 

[dasstan]

Is Boost's power limited to humans, or does his heal aura work on all things living?

Well, aside from it not surviving without Amelia's assistance, that was pretty damn funny.

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Spoiler: Picture of Daunmi

I kid.

 

[jaelin910]

Pretty sure that Avalon Yggdrasil is made to last without Amelia. What with a whole planet suddenly dying otherwise. There were no ecosystems to worry about on their dead world after all.


Also I just realized. Poor Danny. Finally got his ferry, and then orbital bombardment happened.

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my understanding is that it'll basically starve without her. on a planetary scale, that'll take a while.

 

[cosoco]

"Not from where I'm sitting, she's not," I responded. "Yeah, sure, she's the more outright deadly option, but that's only useful when you want to kill someone. Who was the last enemy we had where lethal force was an option? Endbringers don't count." Plus Lily is an emotionally needy wreck, has a history of discipline problems, and Lisa has other things she plans to use our primary Endslayer for. If anything, I'm lucky they broke up so I didn't get stuck with the choice of both or neither, because I'm not sure which would suck more.

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That's right, respond to a lack of self confidence by saying that she's useful for her power.

She smiled. "If you're sure."

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Kiss her!

sourmellon

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This might be intentional, but melon is usually spelled with one L.

 

[dasstan]

That's right, respond to a lack of self confidence by saying that she's useful for her power.

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Well, when she's talking about her use to the team, it doesn't exactly make sense to say she's useful for her excellent fashion choices?

This might be intentional, but melon is usually spelled with one L.

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The extra L adds fllavor.

 

[Rogue1615]

Well at this point, if something can kill off Amy and Taylor permanently, Avalon will have more serious issues then the Biosphere dying. They certainly have time to figure out how to make Avalon self sustaining. Would be an interesting project down the line.

 

[dasstan]

Well at this point, if something can kill off Amy and Taylor permanently, Avalon will have more serious issues then the Biosphere dying. They certainly have time to figure out how to make Avalon self sustaining. Would be an interesting project down the line.

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Between Dragon, Riley, Defiant, and Riley's samples of Sphere's tech, I honestly don't think it would take all that long.

 

[pepperjack]

Avalon will have more serious issues then the Biosphere dying.

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It is somewhat amusing that it is possible for our characters to have bigger problems than total biosphere collapse.

 

[Daunmi]

Spoiler: Picture of Daunmi

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I meant that honestly. It was pretty damn funny even with the very slight and not mentioned for ages point about how the Yggdrasil works.

my understanding is that it'll basically starve without her. on a planetary scale, that'll take a while.

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Pretty sure that Avalon Yggdrasil is made to last without Amelia.

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It feeds itself, but it's not a 'real' plant. It's got none of the things that make plants in real life in the wild hardy. Its issue is that if a fungus or disease infects it, that's it. Game over. Unless Amelia comes in contact with it, at which point the plant looks at the fungus or disease and goes "OM NOM NOM MORE FOOD." as Amelia kills the problem off. This was all mentioned waaaay back in the first handful of chapters, and hasn't really been touched on since then and I have literally no idea how the hell I remember it.

So if someone snags a bit for a quick snack, it'll probably be ok in the fridge for a week or so. If it tries to grow out of control though, it'll run into issues when the local flora/fauna starts eating it. And as mentioned it's quite a good source of various things living creatures need, so they will eat it, if they're able to.

 

[dasstan]

I meant that honestly. It was pretty damn funny even with the very slight and not mentioned for ages point about how the Yggdrasil works.

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I think you missed my "I kid" invisitext. I really just wanted an excuse to post grumpy cat.

On an only tangentially related note, I feel sorry for everyone that invested time into survival training and then moved to Avalon.

 

[TanaNari]

Wouldn't it make more sense to just shoot Mantellum with a regular handgun....it makes the most sense to kill or maim a power nullifer.

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There are laws against that, y'know. Unless he turns out to be black. This is still LA, y'know.

Huh, I was under the impression that Mantellum could only block mental powers (Master, Stanger and Thinker specifically) rather then all powers. Also his range is supposed to be tiny.

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Also the Custodian.

Just a query, Is there a reason for chapters 86 to 174 to be missing from the index?

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You should read the notes later on. They explain this.

Oh, sure, why not? I can see the conversation with Customs now:

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You should pretty that up. It'd be a great Omake.

Well, aside from it not surviving without Amelia's assistance,

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The Avalonian Yggdrasil variant could survive for generations without Amelia there to help.

Is Boost's power limited to humans, or does his heal aura work on all things living?

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No.

Kiss her!

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Because that worked out so well last time.

... You have a fetish for watching girls get tased until they pee themselves, don't you?

 

[EragonVsHarry]

Yup. Speaking of... whatever happened to DeviantD?

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DeviantD apparently has had some personal life things to deal with, and a lack of inspiration for Silencio [i read some of his posts on another forum about it].
Thats what happened, so I hope all goes well and Silencio inspiration flows like water :3

 

[pepperjack]

... You have a fetish for watching girls get tased until they pee themselves, don't you?

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Don't knock it 'til you try it?

*hasn't tried it*

 

[dasstan]

*hasn't tried it*

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He added hastily.

We're on to you, Mr. Cheese.

 

[pepperjack]

Well, I could explain how I meant it as the reason that I am not currently knocking it, but I can see it is far too late:

Spoiler

Incidentally, I just did a Google search for "tasingladies.com" - for purely scientific reasons, I assure you - and discovered that the second hit is for the Facebook page of one Nic McCheesy.

Make of that what you will?

 

[Inverness]

A/N- Don't worry, I'll do something horrible eventually.

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Scion exterminates all cows across the multiverse after eating his first burger?

 

[TanaNari]

Amelia, Ch 293- Emma


"Dragon? You there?" I asked.


"Yes," the response came after a few moments. I'd already concluded that superhuman multitasking was part of Dragon's power list. Even with the AI tech I'd seen her use, no natural human could think as quickly as she did. Putting her in a class alongside myself and Taylor. Somewhere between the two of us in overall ability, from what I was able to estimate. As a Tinker, we didn't bother analyzing her powerset, there really wasn't much point.


"I might have found something," I responded. "A new anti-Endbringer weapon. Maybe even the golden gun for the golden god himself."


"You have my undivided attention," Dragon responded. I tapped a few buttons and gave her the initial theory. The overall information would take a bit longer, there was a lot of data to draw from. "A time breaker?" she responded.


"Effectively a disintegration gun," I replied. It distorted the flow of time in spectacularly destructive ways. Doing to the fourth dimension what Missy could do to the first three when she wanted to break something. "A bit of a splice between the device we captured from the CIU, the readings from Khonsu, and the stuff you gave me in regards to Clockblocker's power. We already know Clockblocker and Khonsu's powers work on Endbringers," So did the CIU weapon, to a certain extent. "Which means it's possible the weapon can hurt them as well. The only question is if it can kill the core."


"There's also the matter of its inherent instability," Dragon responded. She already read the complete schema? Over two hundred hours of accumulated data analyzed in just a little over a minute. She definitely has me beat for processing speed.


"That is a problem," I agreed. There was very little we could do to predict the area damaged when activated. It was equally likely to destroy a single atom as it was to destroy a city block. "I'm trying to find a way around that, but I've hit a dead end to where my Tinkering can take me. Maybe you and Leet can do better?"


"Maybe," Dragon responded. "It seems to me the biggest vulnerability is in the range. We can't equip it to a missile since once the generator deactivates, so does the effect. We'd need more time to do what needs done."


"A melee weapon would be ideal," I agreed. "Except sooner or later, the generator itself would explode, and the inherent randomness means we won't know until activating whether the weapon's a dud or not. My plan is to install them into Khepri's weaponry and your own AI combat drones. If Victoria's power can predict the device, we could provide her with one as well." Hers would be a very effective combination, if it worked.


"They're good plans," Dragon agreed. "I'll see what I can do to improve effectiveness. This might be a method to kill the Endbringers that are functionally immune to Atropos' power."


"Their builders can't account for everything," I replied. "Or the things are going to be so turtled up that they're no longer capable of offensive attacks. Each time we kill one, the next generation is that much less effective." As long as we avoid the fight with Tohu and Bohu.


....


I looked at the man known as Boost. Tall, bulked up to the point where it was actally a little gross. My superhuman senses kicked in, letting me see the damage caused by steroid abuse and years of bulk building instead of actual well rounded exercise. He'd also clearly lost some mass recently, his power at work regenerating him into a proper, healthy, body type. The energy of his power washed over me as well, attempting to heal what little remained of my legitimately organic tissue and failing miserably.


"Like what you see, babe?" he asked, and flexed.


"Thinker power," I answered. "My sight is more effective than a lot of this equipment."


"Cool," he shrugged. "So, how about after the checkup we go out for a bite to eat? I hear good things about the walls. You could take me back to your place and show me what else is edible around here."


God damn it, he's one of those. Oh well, nothing I haven't dealt with before. "I doubt my boyfriend would appreciate that very much." And I know I wouldn't. I looked at the scanners. His power was working on living tissue samples we'd collected. Worked on human blood, worked on the lab mice. Didn't touch the Yggdrasil or plant material. Didn't have an effect on lizard or bird, either. "Healing appears to be limited to mammalian life," I informed the computer.


"Cool," he answered again, then looked over at Clarice. "How about you? Care to show me the sights?"


Seriously? At least with me he has the excuse of saying I look over eighteen. But Clarice?


"Sorry, I have-" Clarice started.


"Actually," I interrupted. "Clarice has this game she plays at her highschool." This is your fair warning to stop hitting on the underage girl and avoid the very painful beating that's about to come. "She won't go out with anyone unless they can take her ribbon away from her."


"But-" Clarice started.


"Yeah, I know your ribbon was lost in Brockton Bay," I stopped her again. "But I'm pretty sure a sparing match would be just as good. Besides, we need to test his power in action, and a few bruises are just the ticket."


"Sure, that sounds like fun," Boost agreed, smiling and looking at Clarice. "Don't worry, I'll go easy on you."


The next few minutes were the highlight of my day.


....


"Hey, Ems," Zach poked his head into the lab. "Guess what I just discovered."


I smiled at him. "Did you realize that Riley's genetic analysis tech works on nonhumans, and managed to hybrid yourself a puppy with a Japanese Squirrel? Because I did that two weeks ago. Still haven't gotten around to actually growing one. Cross species genetics get ugly."


"That's possible?" Zach asked. "Well, I thought I had something cool, but now all I can think about is taunting all the furverts by showing them just how grotesque their fetish actually is when you see what it really looks like."


"Says the guy who thinks the hottest thing about me is that I can transform?" I crossed my arms and took a displeased stance, complete with glare and tapping one foot on the ground. "Do you really think you have room to criticize?"


"Hey, all your transformed states are human," he defended. "That's just the fun of getting it on after a haircut or dye job, only you can do it more often. Besides, that's nowhere near the hottest thing about you."


"Oh?" I smiled, walking toward him. I put a bit of extra swing in my step. He could be a charmer when he wanted to, and I had to love him for ignoring how not human my anatomy really was. "Now I have to know what you think is hottest about me."


"Oh, sure, put me on the spot," he complained. But he was smiling back, and approached me quickly. We had the lab to ourselves, this late at night Trevor and Riley would be in bed. That left only Rey, and he had his own lab focused on how to best exploit the Endbringer tissue. He caressed my cheek. "To start with, your lips." He kissed me softly, and I responded with a soft moan. If he knew my response was an act, then he pretended that away as well.


I barely felt it when Taylor punched me in the face hard enough to break my zygomatic and maxilla. I barely felt it when I was trapped in New Delhi, my skin boiling even when I was using my hybrid state to keep me, my armor, and Dennis alive.


I couldn't feel the gentle effort he put into his kisses and caresses, the way he softly bit my neck. All that was wasted on me. Part of the price I paid for my powers.


I had it better than many parahumans. Like, say, Lisa. It didn't disgust me, I still enjoyed the intimacy, and my rewired brain didn't experience even the basics of that desire in the first place. Not being able to want to was better than wanting to but being unable, at least from where I was sitting. So I pretended the appropriate responses, tapped into my power to analyze his physiological responses, and spent some quality time with my boyfriend.


For about three and a half minutes. Then the alarm sounded.


"REALLY?!"


===============

A/N- Zach: "Okay, now it's fucking personal."

 

[dasstan]

For about three and a half minutes. Then the alarm sounded.


"REALLY?!"

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Rule of three!

"Healing appears to be limited to mammalian life,"

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That answers that question...

So. Who's going to be the unlucky sod to use the flash built Time Gun on the threat?

 

[Adrian Nightshade]

So. Who's going to be the unlucky sod to use the flash built Time Gun on the threat?

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Probably Zack or Taylor(via zerg).