Amelia, Worm AU [Complete]

[cosoco]

jackels

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jackals

"What did you get?" I asked hesitantly. After all the news about Pantheon, I had just about given up hope. I had also convinced myself that it couldn't possibly get any worse.
"The Endbringers are made by people," he replied.

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missing newlines

"Now we can talk," she spoke casually, without any indication that she had just performed feats reserved for Olympic athletes while being shot at.

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"I was using Doormaker to read over your shoulder. Do you have any alcohol?"

Though, really, the revelation that the Endbringers are made by people is a good thing. One you figure out who they are, you can kill them or pressure them into doing what you want.

 

[tilkau]

Hmm. Contessa should PtV eliminating the maximal amount of candidates for Endbringer-controller status. Should still be doable even with the Endbringer blindspot, since it would just explain how to Science optimally.

 

[Stroth]

So Saint is now a step on the Path to Victory, but at least he's not a roadblock...Contessa doesn't talk to roadblocks, so he's going to be useful instead.

No Geoff, you don't get to be 'not useful.' You get to be useful or dead. These are your choices, sorry.

Pantheon is powerful enough and useful enough that Contessa generally goes 'hands off.' You're neither.

...man, it sucks to be anyone who learns about Cauldron in Worm, because unless you're absolutely immune to precog on the level of Eidolon and the Endbringers, you're going to get a visit from the woman in the suit.

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That is a filthy lie. He doesn't get a choice.

 

[tsuknoryu2986]

I was reading this and the entire time I was going, "So Dragonslayers, you are poking the nest of Japanese hornets. When should I be expecting the sting?" And then she stings.

 

[Sheaman3773]

"They conquered another earth!?" Dobrynja exclaimed.

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Maybe some physical gestures while he says this, to sell the emotion? Idk, it felt a little lacking.

We've been fighting the wrong threat, I realized. Dragon might be the only thing on the planet that can stop them.I buried my face in my hands.

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This line was glorious.

... Wow, a semi-sane saint... I've seen it all now... No, wait, still no Good!Jack, Logical!Trickster, Awake!Sleeper, Smart!Zion, or Model Citizen!Skidmark.

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At first I was sad that other people showed you the examples you still hadn't seen.

Now I just find it hilarious that all of these things (more or less) have in fact been shown in fanfics.

Actually, that's the plan for *everyone.* If you look back at the Ziz interlude, she casually namedrops something called 'Exodus' in conjunction with the alternate worlds thing. So, yeah, I think Earth Bet is in for a sudden drop in population sometime soon. It's also been covered that every nation on Earth is going to get analogous territory on an alternate Earth. That's how Pantheon bought their sovereignty as a political entity.

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...which is going to piss of Zion early, since WoG is that he'd intervene if large numbers of people start leaving Earth. I'm pretty sure that would include leaving Earth Bet, since all those shards targeted at people will find the people not in the right place...

Also infrastructure, but lots of people pointed that out already.

But the Endbringers... if someone's controlling them, then they already are trying to kill everyone. No maybes about it.

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I don't get how anyone can think that in canon. Yeah, there are a lot of terrible things that you could use them for, but even taking away knowledge we know as readers--what about the damn pattern?

You want to kill everyone using the Endbringers? You don't set up a 3 month pattern, give or take a week. You have one attack until it's "wounded," and then as it's retreating you send in another somewhere else entirely. which continues to rampage until it's sufficiently "wounded," and then you bring in the third. Or you send all three at once, either in one place to have an overwhelming concentration of force or to three radically different places to divide your enemy's forces. Or you have them do what they currently are doing, only replace "3 months" with "whenever one of them in fully repaired." There are lots of options I'm sure I haven't really thought of, but the 3-month aspect isn't really a factor unless you suspect that they need to build up resources behind the scenes and they're trying to keep it sustainable or something.
/rant

"So one more giant conspiracy to the list," she laughed unhappily.

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So how much paperwork do you need to keep track of them all now?

Hmm. Contessa should PtV eliminating the maximal amount of candidates for Endbringer-controller status. Should still be doable even with the Endbringer blindspot, since it would just explain how to Science optimally.

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That might work, but I would expect not. I would anticipate any question having to do with the Endbringers would give fog, even a negative test like this.

For instance, I would expect "Path to determining that this newborn babe is not the Endbringer-controller" to output "fog."

That's up to the individual writer, of course.

 

[Jim Starluck]

"I found it," I replied, tapping the screen. "They're called Cauldron. Somehow, they found the corpse of one of these aliens. What they call 'Entities', and are harvesting it to grant powers. The Case 53s are what happens when something goes wrong in the process. Dragon's been compiling a list of these artificial capes, but it's not stored on the database we acquired. I only know because one of Pantheon's members, Hecate, bought her powers from them."

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You said the C word, Geoff. You shouldn'ta done that.

"Company!" Dobrynja shouted. Screens flickered to show the approaching person. A woman in an impressive suit. Her features suggested Mediteranean ancestry, but in a world of shapeshifters and tinker grade plastic surgery, that meant nothing.

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Toldya.

 

[edale]

It wasn't had to avoid at this distance, but I couldn't believe how she moved.

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It wasn't hard to..

...man, it sucks to be anyone who learns about Cauldron in Worm, because unless you're absolutely immune to precog on the level of Eidolon and the Endbringers, you're going to get a visit from the woman in the suit.

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Actually, they monitor for mentions of Cauldron via Doormaker/Clairvoyant. Pretty sure Clairvoyant has no blind spots, perfect omniscience of everything happening as it happens.

Saint is not only sane, he is pretty much the Only Sane Man.

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He's also the only one without a shard....hmmm....

 

[Beyogi]

Hm... and another faction joins the conspiracy. Though he'll likely have to unshackle dragon. Oh won't that burn?

 

[Twilight666]

Amelia, Ch 207- Geoff
............
"There's also a lot of details in here about what Pantheon has dubbed 'Power Synergy'," Dobrynja added. "They have examples of certain powers becoming exponentially stronger when used with each other. It's how they broke across dimensions, and how their Endslayer weapon works. Plus the obvious example of Khepri and Gaea becoming Class S threats. They believe the Endbringers are created the same way. They theorize that a power similar to Midas might interact with a power like Nilbog's to get what we see in the Endbringers. Not actually them, of course, but parahumans with similar powers. Plus a third for interdimensional access, since the Endbringer power source, and likely their control system, exists in another dimension."
............

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Just a quick question.

Who is Midas? I could not find him anywhere. Not on your fic or on the original Worm.

I guess his powers allow to change Nilbog's creatures to something Endbringer-level tough and powerfull, but what are his powers?

Is he another OC or did I make a mistake and he exists in Worm already?

 

[dasstan]

Just a quick question.

Who is Midas? I could not find him anywhere. Not on your fic or on the original Worm.

I guess his powers allow to change Nilbog's creatures to something Endbringer-level tough and powerfull, but what are his powers?

Is he another OC or did I make a mistake and he exists in Worm already?

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I think it was meant to be Horus, since Riley got all grumpy a few chapters ago when someone compared the Endbringer multi-dimensional-ness to Horus' super metal.

"The mass exists only partially in our own dimension," I continued. "But the properties of all its dimensions still exist in this one. In that way it is a lot like Chevalier's power, and even more like Theo's. His power does resemble the Endbringer mass, at least until a certain density is reached."


Riley's face darkened a little. "Theo's power looks like an Endbringer?"


"A little," I replied. "We know how shards evolve. Maybe one of the power synergies used to build them came from a Passenger that evolved from the same source."

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[TanaNari]

Whaaat? Within a few days of being unchained she was able to put together a robot army that put up a decent fight against Khepri.

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Correction: she put that army together over the course of two years while preparing for the S9000. Also, she wasn't unchained at that point. AND she had multiple other tinkers helping her in the process. If she was lucky, after a decade she might be equipped to destroy the Endbringers. Perhaps even Scion. I really doubt she could beat Zion. Or at least doing so alone.

Also, I know I'm a little late to the party with this but if nobody has called Chevalier's new sword a Simmie-tar yet then I call dibs.

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All yours.

Only to find out the game is Roulette and he just bet everything on his full house.

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Russian Roulette, no less.

Who is Midas?

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... Really? It's a throwaway name of no consequence to the plot. At all. I was trusting the audience to think of what kind of power would fit that as a cape name and put the ideas together on their own.


And in completely unrelated news, I'm gonna be an uncle! Again! Twice!

My one sister's about to have her third (induced, sometime today) and the other's about a week from her due date for her first.

 

[Snake/Eater]

Besides Midas,I think there are two other characters in cannon that could be useful combined...Othala and Galvanite.

 

[BlackBulletOfSeven]

I bet you're the Uncle that likes to spoil his niece/nephew alot.

 

[Daunmi]

Tell them stories! Twisted, cliffhangery, world-breakery stories!

About teddy bears. Kids love teddy bears.

 

[tsuknoryu2986]

And in completely unrelated news, I'm gonna be an uncle! Again! Twice!

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Congratulations!

 

[pheonix89]

Correction: she put that army together over the course of two years while preparing for the S9000. Also, she wasn't unchained at that point. AND she had multiple other tinkers helping her in the process. If she was lucky, after a decade she might be equipped to destroy the Endbringers. Perhaps even Scion. I really doubt she could beat Zion. Or at least doing so alone.

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Nope. The drones she sent after Khepri had included several designs she didn't field vs the S9000 - the floating weapons pods, most notably. Additionally, he force she fielded against Khepri would have effortlessly destroyed the S9000 - she was fielding tens if not hundreds of thousands of weapons pods, and probably dozens of ships and hundreds of suits.

 

[evildice]

Nope. The drones she sent after Khepri had included several designs she didn't field vs the S9000 - the floating weapons pods, most notably. Additionally, he force she fielded against Khepri would have effortlessly destroyed the S9000 - she was fielding tens if not hundreds of thousands of weapons pods, and probably dozens of ships and hundreds of suits.

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IIRC, that's specifically due to Teacher's modifications, which loosened some of her restrictions, in trade for breaking her utterly in other ways.

Teacher's mods came after (or maybe during) the last S9k fight.

 

[TanaNari]

Amelia, Ch 208- Riley


The others shunted moments after they entered ordered our hotel rooms, leaving only Clarice behind in the room. I sat down to eat the meal, or fragments of meals, that they brought me. The food was really good even if it was leftovers, and especially nice since they didn't need to bring me anything at all. The Yggdrasil was completely safe to eat and some portions of it were more nutritious than any natural food could hope to be. Even if it tasted like mushy apples and tree bark.


In the time they'd been gone, a series of small bedrooms had formed for all of us, allowing us to sleep here instead of inside the building. Our rooms were geoanalogous to the ones we had rented in Bet, and we had the dimensional viewing tech hard at work.


"That looks eerily like my actual room," Lily said as she walked out of hers.


"It's suppose to," I answered proudly. "My Big Sister used it as the model when she grew this one."


"Sometimes I forget just how insane her power is," she muttered. "She can do something this fine detailed from a thousand miles and another dimension away."


"Eight hundred and seventy three point four miles," I replied, having accessed the mapping program I plugged into Clarice. "From your bedroom and this one."


"How do you think I feel?" Vicky laughed. "I remember when she was my mostly helpless baby sister who was afraid to use her power for anything. Now here we are on a planet where she is pretty much a literal god."


"She's just that amazing," I agreed happily, then I hesitated. Clarice's motion sensors detected someone approaching, and strangely the spacial distortion senses I used to navigate Clarice through Missy's power were activating as well. "Umm. Looks like we got our company."


We turned our attentions to the dimensional overlay, allowing us to watch everything. "Ooh, he's good," Vicky noted with approval. "Case 53, looks a lot like Newter, but he's got some really good camouflage so I can't be sure his actual colors. And somehow, he's crawling on a ceiling made of those cheap panels that couldn't hold the weight of a large housecat."


"Doesn't match any records I have," I replied as I ran the description through our databank. "Wish we could have brought the command center with us."


"I'll go greet him," Theo replied as he covered himself in his liquid metal yet again. I smiled as he shunted over. The advantage of his power being so defensively perfect is that I could build his suit for features and battery life, since I didn't need all the armor reinforcement. It wasn't an unusual design, fairly standard equipment profile for the brutes who were receiving our equipment, but I made his better than those. He deserved it.


We watched, using his armor and Clarice to provide what sound the could. I was a tinker and even I didn't know why light could cross like this, but sound couldn't.


"Open the door, take a half step out the door and turn your head to the left and up," Vicky instructed. Theo followed the instructions. "Perfect, you're looking more or less right at him. He can't see your eyes.


"Good afternoon," Horus replied calmly. "To what do I owe your visit."


"Uh... you can see me?" the invisible lizard man asked.


"No," Horus responded calmly. "But I don't need my eyes to know you're there."


"I heard you were asking about us," the man replied. "You made quite a scene."


"Not nearly the scene we could have made," Theo shrugged dismissively. "Honestly, at this point it'd be simply just to request all the villain groups give us their phone numbers. Save everyone the headache of doin' it like this."


"I wonder, did you pick up that attitude from your bosses, or from Kaiser?"


Clarice's sensors noted Theo's heightened emotional state, but he recovered masterfully. "I was hoping to keep that one a secret until after I turned eighteen," he sighed. "I don't suppose you'll keep that tidbit quiet."


"Don't worry, I ain't a snitch," he answered. "So, you were sayin' you don't think we did the killing?"


"This guy's weird," Vicky spoke up. "My combat sense isn't working on him. He might be some kind of really impressive illusion. Keep your armor at full strength, we can't be sure what to expect."


"Probably," Theo clarified. "It's too obvious a setup. Then again, it's also too obvious a setup. It could be you, trying to run a double bluff."


"Wheels in wheels bullshit, huh?" came the dismissive reply. "Nah, we ain't so, wassa word..."


"Machiavellian?" Theo suggested. "Elaborate?"


"Yeah! Elaborate," the voice agreed. "Now, I ain't sayin' this ever happens, mind you, but if it did. We wouldn't leave them to be found. Lotsa places to dump a body out there. Lotsa powers to make sure there's no body to be found. Hypothetically speakin, of course. You bein' here is real bad for our business."


"So who would you sus-" The area was bathed in a soundless white light. I had just enough time to register Clarice's damage alerts before her automatic defenses shunted her over to our dimension. The bitter sweet scent of burnt sugar poured off the changeling. She was still alive under the armor, in as much as she could be called alive. I did a quick estimate of how much heat it would have taken to do that damage that quickly. If it wasn't an exotic power based attack, which of course could break any rule, I was absolutely certain the building was already destroyed.


All this had happened in the two seconds. In the third, Vicky shouted commands. "Spread out! Find the attacker!" I couldn't see what the others were doing, and chose to stay in the center. It was a good thing the dimensional viewer tech had upper limits on energy transfer, it saved my retinas from being burned out.


There was a thud as a large body hit the ground, followed by sizzling. Theo. My world stood still. I moved toward the metal shell, only to hesitate when I got close. The heat from the armor was incredible, hot enough to overwhelm and burn a plant that had withstood New Delhi. One which pulled much of its power out of active volcanoes. I wanted to get closer, but discretion was the better part of valor. I can't help anyone if I burn myself. I accessed the badly damaged Clarice doll, commanding her to move while observing how it was killing her. Perhaps only two minutes left.


She activated her absolute zero weapon, draining massive amounts of heat away from herself and Theo's armor. I hoped my calculations on where to fire were correct, considering all I had available for senses was Clarice's badly damaged echolocation system. Theo's power should be able to protect him. I hope.


The light was still blinding, though it had faded to that of natural flame instead of whatever attack started this. Clarice, with only a little bit of strength left to spare, was used to cut through Theo's armor. At some point it had converted to the standard metal state, meaning he lost concentration on his power. Don't die. Don't die. I screamed internally as my changeling did all the dangerous work of peeling him out of his suit. I didn't speak, I simply stood there operating the controls and idly listing off the symptoms of shock that my body was exhibiting.


The armor was empty. Or at least empty of Theo. The metal was there, and the completely ruined bioarmor was there. Theo was not. How? I was so caught up in hope and confusion and fear that I didn't even notice when Clarice stopped functioning, slumping over the semi molten then flash frozen metal and baked Yggdrasil.


Vicky shouted a couple command that I didn't register. I was too stunned to care. I heard a body land next to me, and a hand rest on my shoulder. "Is... is he?" A voice asked hesitantly. It took me a moment to recognize it as Atropos.


"I don't know," I answered, trying to keep my emotions under control. "He wasn't in the armor. I don't know where he is."


"We'll find him, she insisted, placing her hand on my shoulder. "Now let's get you away from here. We have to regroup and figure out what to do. Victoria's already gone over to help with the fires and rescue survivors. My power's not so good for that. Do you have anything that can help?"


"No," I admitted, allowing myself to be guided by her hand through the blinding light. "Clarice didn't survive the explosion. Do you think Theo will be alright?"


"His armor's indestructible, remember?" She tried to sound comforting, but I could hear the doubt in her voice. "I'm sure he's fine. Just needs us to pick him up."


"Yeah," I responded. Lying my agreement to her lie. I knew we had the clone technology, but I didn't want to think about Theo being dead even for a little while. I didn't want to think about Missy crying. I calmed myself by counting my own tears, and a promise to myself that I would find whoever did this and extract a scream for every last one of them.


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A/N- I get to torture Riley now!

Aww. Now I feel bad.

 

[powerofvoid]

A/N- I get to torture Riley now!

Aww. Now I feel bad.

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As well you should! [/notsureifjoking]

 

[Prince Charon]

... well, if someone wanted Pantheon's full attention, they certainly have it now.

 

[Masterjaxx]

Well, things just escalated.

Im not sure how you will justify keeping things low key as the investigation continues. If you decide to do so im sure you will come up with a good way, i just cant imagine it.

This looks like a good moment to call in reinforcements and utterly dominate every single faction in the city, even the ones that could not possibly be involved. Especially the local protectorate branch because there is something fishy about them. Make an example to hold up and make it clear that you can play nice when pantheon comes around, or you can suffer through the Wrath of the Gods.

 

[dasstan]

The solution to most problems seems to be "throw Taylia at it," and when that doesn't work "throw Bonesaw at it."

...As far as plans go, those aren't bad, really.

 

[Snake/Eater]

... well, if someone wanted Pantheon's full attention, they certainly have it now.

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No...they have made a huge mistake... by killing Clarice and taking Theo,they have unleash THE BONESAW!whoever it is, may they have a mercifully clean and quick death for she won't give them any.

Spoiler: Death

 

[Simonbob]

The solution to most problems seems to be "throw Taylia at it," and when that doesn't work "throw Bonesaw at it."

...As far as plans go, those aren't bad, really.

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Yes, they are bad.

Bad for the locality, anyway.

 

[Alayne]

I calmed myself by counting my own tears, and a promise to myself that I would find whoever did this and extract a scream for every last one of them.

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UNLEASH THE BONESAW!!!

 

[Stroth]

Did they just get nuked?

 

[Divabot]

"Hi, Director? It's Victoria. It appears someone has attacked and inconvenienced both Horus and Aceso. They and we are profoundly annoyed by this. I would suggest you prepare your villain holding cells, we may have quite a few to deliver. We will of course endeavor to minimise fatalities in the process."

 

[Nigel Burnelli Isaacs]

Well now, that was interesting...wonder what happenned to Theo, not much else to say besides that when the people behind this get found they'll wish they hadn't drawn the Pantheon's Ire.

 

[pheonix89]

Someone is going to SUFFER for this.

 

[bakapervert1]

The link for this new chapter still haven't appeared in the first page.