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Amelia, Worm AU [Complete]

Reader mode
TanaNari said:
"Attention, my subjects," I died a little inside, but the swarms of pixies calmed and gave me their undivided attention. "In that building are criminals peddling drugs." In a way, I could almost consider myself fortunate that the summons even understood the concept of narcotics. In another, it was a problem in its own right, as wherever my power got the idea of drugs from, my summons viewed them in an extremely negative light. Probably thanks to what few fantasy stories that mentioned them always portraying them in the worst possible way.


"You are to attack and subdue them," I continued my orders. "Remember, subdue them. I do not want them killed. We... we must interrogate them and learn where they acquired their foul wares." I am living proof it's impossible to die of humiliation. "Now go forth and carry out my bidding."
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You know, it really is too bad that Beth isn't the kind of person who can enjoy being hammy on occasion. Her power sounds like it would be a blast for someone like Mouse Protector. I wouldn't hate getting to give a bunch of faux-fantasy speeches every time I wanted to use my power, but that's probably all of the D&D I've played biasing me.
 
TanaNari said:
And GL almost never didn't use his.
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Do you mean that he's almost always using it, or that he's almost never using it?
TanaNari said:
We... we must interrogate them and learn where they acquired their foul wares.
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"We can kill them after we find that out, right?"
TanaNari said:
"Attention, my subjects," I died a little inside, but the swarms of pixies calmed and gave me their undivided attention.
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This is never going to stop being funny. Never.
TanaNari said:
You guys have do shunt drives, right?
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have shunt drives
TanaNari said:
"I'm in," I agreed immediately. It felt amazing to not be terrified of every possible consequence for once in my life. "If it gets more drugs off the street, well, we can always ask for reinforcements later if we need them. Who knows, maybe we can talk Victoria into moving back?"
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The nuclear option.
TanaNari said:
A few men I was assuming were guards rushed out of the building, in time to be swarmed by my army.
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Why do supervillain bases always have armed guards? I mean, the only people who would attack a secret base are superheroes. Wouldn't it be more effective to hire elderly women, who run outside and shout at the heroes? Or, to take a page out of Skitter's handbook, a bunch of children who start crying?
Spetz N9ne said:
You know, it really is too bad that Beth isn't the kind of person who can enjoy being hammy on occasion. Her power sounds like it would be a blast for someone like Mouse Protector. I wouldn't hate getting to give a bunch of faux-fantasy speeches every time I wanted to use my power, but that's probably all of the D&D I've played biasing me.
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Imagine how adorable it was when she was still interested in princesses. But, after four years, not so much.
 
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Quick question: is Synth canon, or an OC?

Because I have someone not unlike him coming up in one of my stories.
 
IIRC, Ligeia is one of the more broken Canon characters(though not particularly useful for pantheon)
 
Two theories on Lisa actively being bitchy here.
  1. To tweak Accord. Entirely possible and well within her canon personality.
  2. Dinah gave better odds if they are thrown into the mission without a proper briefing about what is coming. You can't overthink details you don't know after all.
 
dasstan said:
Good lordy. 20,000 semi autonomous projections. That's a heck of a master power... Now they just need to get Defiant to make them tiny pixie guns.
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He'd either have a techgasim at what that would involve, or flat out NOPE you because of number of guns involved.

Halberds on the other hand...

Defiant: a..Yes, halbreds would work. And we can give them little nano-thorn generators and use them to slay Enbringers! Now, where am I going to get a duck and a rubber hose at this time of night? *trails off in mumbles as he power walks to the workshop.*
 
UltimateGrr said:
He'd either have a techgasim at what that would involve, or flat out NOPE you because of number of guns involved.

Halberds on the other hand...

Defiant: a..Yes, halbreds would work. And we can give them little nano-thorn generators and use them to slay Enbringers! Now, where am I going to get a duck and a rubber hose at this time of night? *trails off in mumbles as he power walks to the workshop.*
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Throw in a tinker-tech duplicate of Vista's power, and Beth can have an entire armory for her pixie minions. An armory full of tiny little anti-Endbringer weapons.
 
doomlord9 said:
Two theories on Lisa actively being bitchy here
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Probably the second one since Lisa ended up using her power on herself and worked out that she gets much better use out of it if she's not being needlessly antagonising.

Although that doesn't mean she's not after something specific...
 
TanaNari said:
Sabah took that moment to fire her weapon into the wall of the facility. It shattered a moment later, as she used her telekinetic control to rip the supports out of the ground. We rarely displayed Sabah's full power for a reason. Preferring to imply she was weaker, without this level of destructive ability. And stronger, able to hurt people instead of merely nonliving objects.
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I don't quite understand the latter part of this paragraph. It seems like you are saying that they like to pretend that Sabah is weaker than she is, bu then you have the next bit which doesn't quite make sense.

I think you are trying to say something about how they are tricking people into thinking that she can affect people as well as non living matter but it's really not very clear.
 
Amelia, Ch 346- Lisa
  • Threadmarks
    • Amelia, Ch 346- Lisa


    Improved reaction speed, interpreting of data. Harnessing Uber's power to instinctively know how to achieve a goal. Filling in gaps of knowledge. I watched as the twins sat at a couple terminals, correcting papers written by experts in the fields of medical radiology and submarine design. Two subjects chosen specifically because neither of them had any knowledge of those subjects. Advancing technology and knowledge that, theoretically, no one on Aleph or Bet should know. Uber's power does not rely upon a human knowledge pool, or if it does it extends to dimensions outside our access.


    "I trust you'll send those papers by your people?" Alexandria asked. She didn't feel the need to mention the PRT had several experts of their own waiting to see the results of this experiment. Subtler hints in behavior than usual, afraid to let Gemini catch on to our method of communication, misses our ability to communicate and is taking a risk by using it anyway. Addictive properties brought on by Passenger impulse. Identical side effects to Taylia.


    Fuck! Already aware of my reaction, curious and concerned about my sudden emotional change. I took the effort to shift subtly and look out at the twins. She'd get the idea that this is not something I can explain under current circumstances.


    "Dragon's probably built a time altering device so she could read them yesterday," I quipped back.


    Displeased with circumstances, recognizes necessity. She took the implied subject change for what it was. "In the unlikely event that you're exaggerating Dragon's skills, I'll see to it you're provided a copy of the same records we have." Referencing Dragon's Key, agreeing to hand it over. I wasn't a fool, I didn't believe for a second that Cauldron would hand it over without making a viable copy of it. The mere fact that we had a copy of our own hopefully meant we'd find a way to circumvent the intentional design flaws permanently. No, they're giving us the original, know we'd discover if we were given a fake or duplicate. Aware of my postcognitive ability? Unknowable.


    I looked over at the twins. They'd moved on to one of the 'curveball' sections. One in botany studying several species of plants found in Norway's Earth, whose ancestors apparently went extinct on Bet a couple million or so years ago, and a series of made up, but highly plausible, plants invented for fantasy and science fiction stories. Dragon picked them out for the experiment. The other was working on a series of evolutionary theory models. We wanted to see how their powers handled information they could not possibly possess, untested or untestable ideas, and a bunch of stuff that was just plain made up and/or fictional.


    Even through the fog of information I was getting off Gemini, and the sheer weight of implications of the Key, I couldn't help but think of Taylor. The real Taylor. My best friend, who told me to fuck off and then killed herself in an absurdly visible way just to prove a point. It hurt a little, every time I saw her replacement, the girl my power said was only a few months old, running around with her personality, memories, powers and even life. Whose death I indirectly contributed to.


    She would be dead now, anyway, I tried to assuage my guilt. Tohu and Bohu would have killed her just as certainly as they killed her replacement. She died on her own terms stopping the Butcher forever. Not a lot of people get to choose how they die. As much of a control freak as Taylor was, she was no doubt happy to be one of those few. On a good day, I even managed to believe that.


    Rebecca tensed. Concerned, worried for my wellbeing, wants to comfort me. I looked at the twins and pushed my grin back up to its usual state, letting her know that her thoughts were appreciated. I waited silently for Gemini complete their current project, then spoke up.


    "How's it going?" I asked them.


    "Not bad at all," the one I'd come to think of as the elder brother with the white background on his right side spoke. He tended to be the leader of the pair, but they'd change that on a whim, to the point where I suspected they changed costumes in the middle of the day just so both got practice playing the role of leader. "Although that last project kinda sucked."


    "That's because it was meant to," his twin asserted. He spent the time his brother was talking to cold read us. The pair came with their own inherent sense of planning with their sibling, so they were constantly running support for each others' plots and performances. "A test on the limits of our abilities by throwing something at us that should be beyond our current powers to understand."


    "From your reactions, I assume it was?" Alexandria asked.


    "You'd better believe it, babe," Elder laughed. "By the way, your power is my favorite. I hope we get to see more of it in the future." He winked at Alexandria, who simply ignored the behavior.


    "You say that to literally everyone whose powers you borrow," I sighed.


    "Aww," Younger whined. "Why do you have to ruin our fun like that?"


    "Nah, see, ruining your fun would be letting Accord know you say that to everyone," I retorted. On some level, the man no doubt already knew it was nothing but meaningless flattery, but it stroked his ego. "I need to let my power take a break, so we're moving to phase two of the tests."


    "Can't we keep just one?" Younger begged. I just stood there and looked at them, thinking about how odd it was that I was playing strict mother to a pair of guys that were older than me by about four years. Younger finally relented. "Fiiine."


    Again, the change in their body language was abrupt and significant, taking their confidence and replacing it with a timid demeanor. The pair went back to the first set of computers they'd worked on. Now it was time to see how much they still understood from their time spent using Alexandria's power. It also meant I could communicate properly with her for a time.


    She regarded me in silence as I conveyed my concern about what I was about to tell her, and extracted a promise from her that this didn't go past just us. It took less than fifteen minutes for Gemini to go through their first three terminals each when they had their copied powers. In the hour it took them to review their first terminals without any powers, I slowly conveyed the story of Taylia to Rebecca. What it really was, and all the risk that it carried for girls bound to it. Secrets that I'd kept to myself since that fateful day in early July.


    I didn't trust myself to explain Taylor's death. I didn't believe I could do that and keep my composure enough to hide our conversation from the many spies pointed at us. I did manage to explain the addictive traits inherent in the process, and that Rebecca and I showed similar side effects.


    She glanced to her side and removed her phone, checking messages, though I was certain she'd already checked them via her changeling, or the tech in the armor she used.


    Hesitant about situation, unsure how to approach the idea that our powers are a mind altering drug, considering the possibility of us avoiding each other to mitigate the possible influences of our powers. Immediate negative response to that idea, enjoys the connection, doesn't want to be alone. Choosing a method to rationalize the emotional decision she's already made.


    She shifted slightly, conveying a concept of resignation. Not acceptance or happiness, simple resignation to the reality of the issue. Her left hand moved open slightly, and she tilted her hands inward toward her hip, and gestured toward the twins with her thumb. It took me a moment to piece together the message even with my power. Dislikes the nature of powers influencing her behavior, but admits that's already the case, always has been the case. All Passengers influenced the minds of their hosts, she wasn't going to pretend we were an exception to that.


    She expanded her hand again. Saying that it was more than that, even. Conveying idea of broader behavior. Human beings as creatures controlled by chemistry. Thinkers, especially, as creatures influenced by their powers. She closed her hand gently. We are already caught by our powers, we might as well accept that and at least enjoy the parts that are good for us, because we're going to suffer the bad parts no matter what we do.


    I was both relieved and disappointed. Taylor said some things very similar to that, in defense of Taylia. I conveyed that sentiment to Alexandria by my hand over the armor plating of my other arm. In the early days, our armor was alive, with a chitin-like shell for protection. A sign of how things have changed.


    She stood confident, and managed to make an approving gesture with her hand. Feels Taylor is right about that decision.


    I almost flinched. Pulling them apart had caused so much pain, because they'd been connected so long. Rebecca and I were far less tied together, both because of less total exposure, and because our powers didn't link as fluidly as Taylia. We still had a chance to break free of the cycle before it was too late.


    She tilted her head and traced her finger in a way reminiscent of cutting with a knife. Gesture suggesting self harm, wondering if our bond could be compared to Taylia in terms of the other risks. If she believes there's a physical risk, she's willing to break away. If not, she's prefer to see where this path leads.


    "Okay, guys, it's time for you to pick up your powers and go back to the first stage tests again," I spoke to the twins. I relaxed slightly, conveying a lack of concern. The other side effects aside, our powers carried nowhere near the same dangers that Taylia did.


    Rebecca was both relieved and concerned. Mind made up, she doesn't want to stop using our connection. Knows that I don't, either. Afraid I'll do it anyway, due to prior experiences. If we were alone, I would have hugged her right then. You win again, Taylor.


    Underneath all of that, she asked the question I had been dreading the whole time.


    Will we be forced to stop them?


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


    A/N- Yeah, I may have skipped an update. I was too busy binging on Dragon Unbound. It was really good. Definitely in my top 5 slot for Worm fics. Not quite Weaver Nine or Wake/Cenotaph territory. But still freakin' awesome.
     
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    • TanaNari said:
    Her left moved open slightly,
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    left hand?


    Anyway, very emotionally heavy chapter. Since power interactions act as a fog for Contessa/other thinkers in general, are Alexandria and Minerva constantly flitting in and out of the fog whenever they communicate? If so, will any thinkers watching the proceedings be getting skewed results? Or is the less direct nature of the Rebisa/Lisecca bond neatly sidestepping those issues?
     
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