Jim Starluck
CO, ICS Vanguard
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Boy, is Eidolon gonna be surprised.
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evildice
(emotionally stable clown posse)
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Suddenly his need will change from "worthy opponents" to "unstoppable defenders".
Net win for humanity, I bet, though holy hell will his therapy bills be high.
~ ~ ~
Regarding the Baby Tree, it's not really that disturbing to me. The fruits may be human, but they're not people.
Unlike normal babies, there are no grown-ups who will be upset by their consumption.
Snake/Eater
Myth Maker of the North
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There is still a question of Marquis wanting to be in Amelia's life for personal reasons or gain.even in Worm i had trouble trying to figuring out the character.is he still human mentally or has his shard messed him up like Bitch or was he criminally deviated before he triggered.
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The Shadowmind
Well worn.
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dasstan
:)
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...I don't think there's a single indication in the text that implies that Marquis is anything more than a Noble Demon. He's a criminal that does criminal things. That doesn't preclude him from loving his child and wanting to get to know the woman she's become.
edale
Versed in the lewd.
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Yeeeaaa...No. Simulated DNA.
What?
[voice="Forrest Gump"]And that's all I have to say about that.[/voice]
Nope, need a close enough DNA match for most organ transplants, this would require Amelia's direct supervision to reproduce. I think Hearts are one of the organs that you CAN transplant without a close enough match, so perhaps a few trees with different blood-types of hearts...maybe.
Tests all effects but the mental ones. But my thoughts are on a slightly different path; make them adult bodies, and you've got the perfect training aid for medical schools. FAR better than cutting open cadavers at teaching what to do to keep a patient alive. Could even make a few have specific problems by default, so actual life-saving surgery could be performed and taught with zero risk to anyones life (grow a homunculus with a heart defect, along with a working heart to perform a transplant with, as an example), even if everything is botched. The advanced VR medical training programs out there can't hold a candle to that.
So....did anyone else notice that right after all the debate in the forums about growing clones to feed to GU, that TanaNari turned right around and basically did that for Moord Nag instead?
Also, all the "horror" at growing those homunculi? All TN did was have Amelia make a grove jinmenju for Noord Nag.
Snake/Eater
Myth Maker of the North
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simulated dna of who? that is the question,it had to be the dna of someone she knew.she's known Vicky her entire life.or was it Taylor the woman she loves.does Amelia even know who she copied?
Ch 234
TanaNari
Verified Dick
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Amelia, Ch 234
Vicky glanced at me, then stepped back. "If you need me, I'll be right over there. Warming up the anti Endbringer weapons. You never can be certain when they might be needed." I almost rolled my eyes.
"I understand," Marquis spoke with a calm, somewhat amused, demeanor. "Thank you for looking after my daughter all these years."
"It's what sisters do," she answered, her voice ice. Electricity visibly danced between the talons built into the armor. She stepped back a couple feet, and her armor shimmered, then turned invisible. "Just pretend I'm not even here."
"Quite the friends you brought with you," he smiled at me.
"Sisters," I corrected.
"Sisters? Plural?" he glanced over at where Lisa was chatting.
"Well, one's an complete bitch who knows exactly what to say to piss me off, but at the same time I know has my best interests at heart even when she's being an unbelievable pain in the ass," I told him. "And the other's Vicky. So, close enough."
"I saw some speculation on the news about me having a second daughter?" he prompted. "I must admit, this came as some news to me."
"To hear some of the other people in Brockton Bay tell it," I answered with just a bit of impatience. "I should be running DNA tests with every native of the city between the ages of nine and twenty. But, if it makes you feel any better? No, Clarice isn't one of yours."
"You know this for a fact, and still let the rumors persist, then?" he kept his easy smile. "I take it you're trying to conceal her true identity. No, don't worry, I won't ask any details." He held up his hand and small white knife that was almost certainly bone. Then he sliced the ball of his hand, though not deeply and dabbed it with a bit of cloth. "Here, should help you if you want to really sell the deception. I'm sure you or one of your tinkers can figure the rest out easily enough."
"Uh, thank you?" I said as I took the cloth. He wasn't wrong, though at this point there was so little benefit to having physical evidence to fabricate Clarice's identity that it really wasn't that useful. I opted not to tell him that, however.
"I heard about your engagement on the news," he said, changing the subject a bit. He jumps between topics without warning. Then again, there's a lot to talk about and not a lot of time, of course he does. "Your fiancée is beautiful, by the way."
"Thanks," this time I meant it. "Tell her that to her face, and she'd call you a liar to yours. I think that's part of her charm, personally. "
"You have your old man's taste in women," he agreed.
"Yeah," I agreed unhappily. "It was very kind of our fans on the internet to point that tidbit out, amidst various other bits of speculation. You'll be relieved to know that no, she is not. Yes, we did check. I've been assured that, genetically, the two of us aren't even the same race."
He scratched the bad of his head. "There are things you're prepared for when becoming a father. There are things you aren't prepared for, but aren't hard to figure out, really. And then there are those things that you never could have imagined could be a thing. I think this conversation is very much one of those."
"Yeah, try living a day in my life," I quipped. "You'd be amazed at how often weirdness like this happens to me."
He looked down, sighing. "I meant it when I said I was sorry. If I had it to do all over again, I'd have done things differently. I want you to know that."
"Nothing we can do about the past," I responded. I wasn't sure, myself, if I was accepting or dismissing the apology. "We just have to move forward. Do better in the future and make up for our mistakes where we can."
"That's a very wise way of looking at things, you were raised well," he praised, then his face showed realization and concern. He must have noticed how I froze up. "You weren't taught that, were you? It was something you had to learn for yourself."
I shrugged. "Like I said, moving forward, making up for mistakes."
He stepped forward and raised his arms a bit, then hesitated. His arms moved back to his sides and then up again. He settled on placing his hands on my shoulders. "I hope you never have to hear your own children say something like that to you," he sighed.
"Sorry to interrupt," Minerva spoke from the entrance. "But if we don't go now, I'm pretty sure they'd leave us behind. Not forever, of course, but a couple hours just to teach us not to waste time."
I turned my head toward her. "Understood," I replied, keeping my voice as neutral as I could.
"Well, visiting hours are over," Marquis sighed. "You've grown up to be a fine young woman, Amelia. You remind me a lot of your mother. I'd like to tell you about her, if we get the time. Maybe I can meet Taylor as well?"
"Yeah, that sounds nice," I offered. It was lame, but it was the best I could say and still be honest. He turned and quickly walked away, his body language changing in the blink of an eye, to the kind of man that could command respect in a prison full of some of the most horrific monsters the world has ever seen. Well, at least I know he'll have something in common with Taylor, I thought. Then I turned to follow my team.
....
I had been reunited with Taylor, and restored as many people as needed it. Then we went on the real offensive. The zerg poured out of our dimension, ready to engage. All of the shifts were over, and everyone arrived for their part of the battle. Except Lily and Sabah, I amended.
The zerglings and ultralisks charged through the rubble of a small town in southern Switzerland whose name I didn't notice, piling on to the Endbringer. Exotic energy weapons had been built into tusks made of sharpened Simurgh tissue, which Taylor wielded as an extension of her body. Khonsu pulled himself free, trapping numerous zerg in time fields. Much like himself, being captured in temporal acceleration would only allow them to recover and recharge.
"We have to shunt over," Lisa informed us. "Quickly."
ConcernUncertainty. Even so, she didn't argue. She shunted as instructed. I followed, along with our command center and everyone on it. Khonsu turned toward us, attempting to force through the masses of zerg between us. Despite not touching the ground, he was not really flying, nor was he very fast, but he was stronger than the monsters we built to fight him. GrimCertaintyFocus.
Taylor's flying units piled on the attacks, backed by our flying parahumans. Alexandria had wrapped one of her chains around Khonsu's throat. She and a couple ultralisks gripped it, pulling him back, though their efforts didn't seem to concern the Endbringer or slow him down.
"He's coming specifically for us," Lisa spoke, informing us of something we already knew.
A black mass poured out of nowhere. On it stood a woman. She doesn't look like a warlord, I thought. More like a groupie of some kind. Black t-shirt with the sleeves torn off and cut to show the stomach and waist. For whatever reason, she also wore a black knee length dress skirt. I guess when you're the most terrifying person on a continent, you can wear whatever the hell you pleased.
Her Predator poured around Khonsu, forming claws and fangs from... whatever it was made of... and digging into injuries that had been made by others.
"Stronger than Alexandria," Lisa appraised of the monster.
Almost half a mile away, we hurt the popping and cracking noises as Khonsu was split open. A huge chunk, three layers thick about as large as a car roof popped off of the Endbringer and was tossed casually away.
"Make that a lot stronger than Alexandria," Lisa amended. "Looks like a similar Passenger to Siberian."
"Detecting waveform," Dragon announced over the armbands. "Target location: French Guiana."
Moord Nag fell back, coming away with another thick chunk of Endbringer shell in the shadow's claws. Our command center slowly lifted off the ground, and us with it. Then the scenery changed from a snowy, very much destroyed, European village to a tropical South American village. Strange, I didn't even feel the transition, I realized. Even with Trickster, there was always a little bit of sensation that came with teleportation.
But all of us had come with. The zerg still had grip on Khonsu, Alexandria still had him chained. Moord Nag's shadow still held the shell of Endbringer matter. He didn't have a chance to restore himself. We can win this. HopeConfidenceDetermination. Taylor's hand gripped mine. Bursts of energy from all our blasters streamed forward. Now that Missy wasn't needed for transportation, even she joined, hammering Khonsu with waves of distorted space and leaving cracks in him that seemed to penetrate deeper than any prior weapon had managed.
Moord Nag took advantage of this damage, specifically targeting them with the shadow. Near as I could tell, she was pouring the shadow into the gap and using it to spread between layers, then pushing them apart. Either way, the pair made a brutal tag team, melting through his layers the way Lily had during her attempt.
A pillar of time shifted, moving toward Missy. As tired and focused on offense as she was, she didn't even see it coming. She blipped out of Bet to find herself on Avalon. "Fuck!" she shouted on the coms, which were mercifully designed to keep the volume at a reasonable decibel for us. "It almost got me, didn't it?"
"Hah!" Clarice chirped happily. "Told you the auto detect system was perfect."
"Yeah," Missy agreed, her voice shaky. "You get to pick on movie night. Landing to recharge, see you in a couple minutes."
The rest of the battle proved straightforward. We had him outclassed in firepower, now. The Endbringer was incredibly durable even by their standards, and had its movement gimmick, but past that it was predictable. The zerg absorbed most of the damage. Until the last few moments. "Waveform detected," Dragon informed us. "Coordinate unknown. According to my understanding of dimensional physics, it's to a place that doesn't exist."
What? "I think, my friends," the Indian cape responsible for our teleportation spoke over the armbands. "I won't be following this one." No one objected, and we took a few more good shots before the Endbringer disappeared.
=================
A/N- And there's the end of Khonsu's fight arc. On to the aftermath!
Vicky glanced at me, then stepped back. "If you need me, I'll be right over there. Warming up the anti Endbringer weapons. You never can be certain when they might be needed." I almost rolled my eyes.
"I understand," Marquis spoke with a calm, somewhat amused, demeanor. "Thank you for looking after my daughter all these years."
"It's what sisters do," she answered, her voice ice. Electricity visibly danced between the talons built into the armor. She stepped back a couple feet, and her armor shimmered, then turned invisible. "Just pretend I'm not even here."
"Quite the friends you brought with you," he smiled at me.
"Sisters," I corrected.
"Sisters? Plural?" he glanced over at where Lisa was chatting.
"Well, one's an complete bitch who knows exactly what to say to piss me off, but at the same time I know has my best interests at heart even when she's being an unbelievable pain in the ass," I told him. "And the other's Vicky. So, close enough."
"I saw some speculation on the news about me having a second daughter?" he prompted. "I must admit, this came as some news to me."
"To hear some of the other people in Brockton Bay tell it," I answered with just a bit of impatience. "I should be running DNA tests with every native of the city between the ages of nine and twenty. But, if it makes you feel any better? No, Clarice isn't one of yours."
"You know this for a fact, and still let the rumors persist, then?" he kept his easy smile. "I take it you're trying to conceal her true identity. No, don't worry, I won't ask any details." He held up his hand and small white knife that was almost certainly bone. Then he sliced the ball of his hand, though not deeply and dabbed it with a bit of cloth. "Here, should help you if you want to really sell the deception. I'm sure you or one of your tinkers can figure the rest out easily enough."
"Uh, thank you?" I said as I took the cloth. He wasn't wrong, though at this point there was so little benefit to having physical evidence to fabricate Clarice's identity that it really wasn't that useful. I opted not to tell him that, however.
"I heard about your engagement on the news," he said, changing the subject a bit. He jumps between topics without warning. Then again, there's a lot to talk about and not a lot of time, of course he does. "Your fiancée is beautiful, by the way."
"Thanks," this time I meant it. "Tell her that to her face, and she'd call you a liar to yours. I think that's part of her charm, personally. "
"You have your old man's taste in women," he agreed.
"Yeah," I agreed unhappily. "It was very kind of our fans on the internet to point that tidbit out, amidst various other bits of speculation. You'll be relieved to know that no, she is not. Yes, we did check. I've been assured that, genetically, the two of us aren't even the same race."
He scratched the bad of his head. "There are things you're prepared for when becoming a father. There are things you aren't prepared for, but aren't hard to figure out, really. And then there are those things that you never could have imagined could be a thing. I think this conversation is very much one of those."
"Yeah, try living a day in my life," I quipped. "You'd be amazed at how often weirdness like this happens to me."
He looked down, sighing. "I meant it when I said I was sorry. If I had it to do all over again, I'd have done things differently. I want you to know that."
"Nothing we can do about the past," I responded. I wasn't sure, myself, if I was accepting or dismissing the apology. "We just have to move forward. Do better in the future and make up for our mistakes where we can."
"That's a very wise way of looking at things, you were raised well," he praised, then his face showed realization and concern. He must have noticed how I froze up. "You weren't taught that, were you? It was something you had to learn for yourself."
I shrugged. "Like I said, moving forward, making up for mistakes."
He stepped forward and raised his arms a bit, then hesitated. His arms moved back to his sides and then up again. He settled on placing his hands on my shoulders. "I hope you never have to hear your own children say something like that to you," he sighed.
"Sorry to interrupt," Minerva spoke from the entrance. "But if we don't go now, I'm pretty sure they'd leave us behind. Not forever, of course, but a couple hours just to teach us not to waste time."
I turned my head toward her. "Understood," I replied, keeping my voice as neutral as I could.
"Well, visiting hours are over," Marquis sighed. "You've grown up to be a fine young woman, Amelia. You remind me a lot of your mother. I'd like to tell you about her, if we get the time. Maybe I can meet Taylor as well?"
"Yeah, that sounds nice," I offered. It was lame, but it was the best I could say and still be honest. He turned and quickly walked away, his body language changing in the blink of an eye, to the kind of man that could command respect in a prison full of some of the most horrific monsters the world has ever seen. Well, at least I know he'll have something in common with Taylor, I thought. Then I turned to follow my team.
....
I had been reunited with Taylor, and restored as many people as needed it. Then we went on the real offensive. The zerg poured out of our dimension, ready to engage. All of the shifts were over, and everyone arrived for their part of the battle. Except Lily and Sabah, I amended.
The zerglings and ultralisks charged through the rubble of a small town in southern Switzerland whose name I didn't notice, piling on to the Endbringer. Exotic energy weapons had been built into tusks made of sharpened Simurgh tissue, which Taylor wielded as an extension of her body. Khonsu pulled himself free, trapping numerous zerg in time fields. Much like himself, being captured in temporal acceleration would only allow them to recover and recharge.
"We have to shunt over," Lisa informed us. "Quickly."
ConcernUncertainty. Even so, she didn't argue. She shunted as instructed. I followed, along with our command center and everyone on it. Khonsu turned toward us, attempting to force through the masses of zerg between us. Despite not touching the ground, he was not really flying, nor was he very fast, but he was stronger than the monsters we built to fight him. GrimCertaintyFocus.
Taylor's flying units piled on the attacks, backed by our flying parahumans. Alexandria had wrapped one of her chains around Khonsu's throat. She and a couple ultralisks gripped it, pulling him back, though their efforts didn't seem to concern the Endbringer or slow him down.
"He's coming specifically for us," Lisa spoke, informing us of something we already knew.
A black mass poured out of nowhere. On it stood a woman. She doesn't look like a warlord, I thought. More like a groupie of some kind. Black t-shirt with the sleeves torn off and cut to show the stomach and waist. For whatever reason, she also wore a black knee length dress skirt. I guess when you're the most terrifying person on a continent, you can wear whatever the hell you pleased.
Her Predator poured around Khonsu, forming claws and fangs from... whatever it was made of... and digging into injuries that had been made by others.
"Stronger than Alexandria," Lisa appraised of the monster.
Almost half a mile away, we hurt the popping and cracking noises as Khonsu was split open. A huge chunk, three layers thick about as large as a car roof popped off of the Endbringer and was tossed casually away.
"Make that a lot stronger than Alexandria," Lisa amended. "Looks like a similar Passenger to Siberian."
"Detecting waveform," Dragon announced over the armbands. "Target location: French Guiana."
Moord Nag fell back, coming away with another thick chunk of Endbringer shell in the shadow's claws. Our command center slowly lifted off the ground, and us with it. Then the scenery changed from a snowy, very much destroyed, European village to a tropical South American village. Strange, I didn't even feel the transition, I realized. Even with Trickster, there was always a little bit of sensation that came with teleportation.
But all of us had come with. The zerg still had grip on Khonsu, Alexandria still had him chained. Moord Nag's shadow still held the shell of Endbringer matter. He didn't have a chance to restore himself. We can win this. HopeConfidenceDetermination. Taylor's hand gripped mine. Bursts of energy from all our blasters streamed forward. Now that Missy wasn't needed for transportation, even she joined, hammering Khonsu with waves of distorted space and leaving cracks in him that seemed to penetrate deeper than any prior weapon had managed.
Moord Nag took advantage of this damage, specifically targeting them with the shadow. Near as I could tell, she was pouring the shadow into the gap and using it to spread between layers, then pushing them apart. Either way, the pair made a brutal tag team, melting through his layers the way Lily had during her attempt.
A pillar of time shifted, moving toward Missy. As tired and focused on offense as she was, she didn't even see it coming. She blipped out of Bet to find herself on Avalon. "Fuck!" she shouted on the coms, which were mercifully designed to keep the volume at a reasonable decibel for us. "It almost got me, didn't it?"
"Hah!" Clarice chirped happily. "Told you the auto detect system was perfect."
"Yeah," Missy agreed, her voice shaky. "You get to pick on movie night. Landing to recharge, see you in a couple minutes."
The rest of the battle proved straightforward. We had him outclassed in firepower, now. The Endbringer was incredibly durable even by their standards, and had its movement gimmick, but past that it was predictable. The zerg absorbed most of the damage. Until the last few moments. "Waveform detected," Dragon informed us. "Coordinate unknown. According to my understanding of dimensional physics, it's to a place that doesn't exist."
What? "I think, my friends," the Indian cape responsible for our teleportation spoke over the armbands. "I won't be following this one." No one objected, and we took a few more good shots before the Endbringer disappeared.
=================
A/N- And there's the end of Khonsu's fight arc. On to the aftermath!
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tilkau
Not too sore, are you?
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I thought that 'simulated dna' would consist of permutations combining many people she knew, in order for each to be unique. It doesn't have to be, of course, but it seems like a logical restriction for Moord Nag's power to impose, and a logical way for Amy to make it less personal.
Inverness
The Foxiest Wife
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This sounds like a good setup for a joke, I can't think of any though.
GiftofLove
A Gift From The Heart
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What happens if Amelia makes the fake humans the size of a titan?
thatavidreader
Getting out there.
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So Lily in all her weakness couldn't get herself to do the last shot to take out the core, now that the rest of the Pantheon had dealt that much damage...
Peanuckle
Versed in the lewd.
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D'awwww. I bet that when they're not bitching at each other, they braid each-others' hair and giggle about biological crimes against nature.
Clever. Zerg that don't die from age and aren't intelligent enough to suffer from the experience.
Oh dear. Here's hoping they don't get telefragged.
edale
Versed in the lewd.
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Does THAT end your DNA rants? TanaNari dealt with that issue a week and a half ago; on the very first mention of DNA in correlation to Amelia's powers, in fact.
I can think of about 10 StarTrek references though... and at least 2 Babylon 5 references as well...
SirKaid
Know what you're doing yet?
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Yggdrasil is already edible and nutritious, no need to turn it into animals.
The organs would almost certainly suffer rejection due to being of strange, indeterminate-but-still-human DNA. Points for testing medication though.
Izicata
AE ALTADOON GHARTOK PADHOME
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Sweet babbling Azathoth, they've weaponized the shipping chart.
jaelin910
habitual lurker
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I saw that one and then forgot about it
WizardTwo
Not too sore, are you?
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They would die instantly because the human body is absolutely incapable of scaling to that size.
They wouldn't even be able to scream, as their lungs collapsed and their bones would break. They'd suffocate while lying on their front or back, depending on which way they fell.
And that's just the obvious issues. They would have absolutely HORRENDOUS reaction times, because nerve impulses take time to travel in a human body as is, and it would be several times longer.
I guess they might survive long enough to be fed to moord nag? Maybe?
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Prince Charon
Just zis guy, you know?
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Nice. Lisa is probably quite happy that Amelia thinks of her that way.
Clandistine1
(Verified Spaceship)
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It's nice to see that Ameila recognizes that Lisa is looking out for her. In her snarking, utterly infuriating way.
Ch 235
TanaNari
Verified Dick
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Amelia, Ch 235- Victoria
"About fucking time," I muttered as Khonsu vanished into wherever the hell he came from. My team started shunting back over to Avalon almost immediately.
"Hey, Vicky, mind giving me a hand?" Taylor asked.
Yes I do, I need to go check on Amy. "What's the sitch?"
"Most of the zerg that got hit by those time fields lost their shunt drives," she answered. "Janus is teleporting the cats back to base, but the gargants are just too large. You're the only one with a system that can handle sending them over."
God damn it. "Okay, I understand." On the plus side, it wasn't hard work, and I managed to make it look cool. Eric simply stood in a field as all the zerglings came to him double file. One touch, they'd vanish, and were no doubt ending up in the lawn of the magic tree embassy. I, on the other hand, got to move around. Ultralisks were just too heavy to walk through the streets without crushing them. Let the Protectorate heroes still here know just what I was capable of. I fought the bastard nonstop the entire time, resting only to get a lift from one location to the next, a half hour visit to Shady Conspiracy Central, and one hour he spent in China, and I was still capable of working as if I just got here.
The open comlink came up, with Amy speaking. "Sorry, we're all pretty much dead on our feet," she spoke.
"I understand," Alexandria, or Costa-Brown if you prefer, spoke. "I have things to deal with as well. I just want to find out if you are well enough. I heard about the barter you made to Moord Nag."
"I'll follow through before going home, don't worry," Amy answered. "Before I have time to think about exactly what I promised."
"She's one of the few that can actually make a difference in the final battle," Alexandria added. "I thank you for your efforts. On a more official note, you've been authorized to take some of the KEB tissue for your experiments. You're making better use of it than anyone else, after all."
"Which is pretty bizarre," Minerva replied. "Considering our... new legal status... you might want to show us less obvious favoritism in the future. People will start to get suspicious. Oh, and no, I don't know anything more about the Endmakers that I think is useful. Maybe Dragon's tracking Khonsu's retreat will give us something useful in the long run, but that's on the Tinkers to handle. Other than that, I'm certain no one at the meeting was involved. The Elite know I was there for that purpose, by the way. If they find the source first, we're looking at a fucking nightmare. They'll try to take control of them."
"That's troubling," Alexandria replied. "They're difficult enough for me to deal with as it is. I suppose it's too much to hope you have a way to prove it. Not showing at the Endbringer battles is, unfortunately, not enough to justify a full scale assault the way you've dealt with the Fallen and Teeth."
"No, and there won't be," Minerva admitted. "Sorry."
"I understand," Alexandria replied. "The warning is appreciated, regardless. I'll make contact when you've had a chance to recover from this ordeal. Do you have any time you'd prefer?"
"Well, it's only three days to Christmas, which is pretty much ruined for everyone on the planet," Minerva speculated. "If you find a way to sneak away during the vacation time, feel free to come over. Amelia makes the best turkey."
"You cook?" Alexandria asked. "I can never find the time, myself."
"No," Amy replied. "I... uh... grow it."
"Other than the texture, you'd never be able to tell the difference," Lisa insisted.
"I might even take you up on that," she agreed. "Now, I won't keep you. Weight of the world and all that, as I'm sure you're quite familiar with." Alexandria took off, going back to the Dragon vehicles that would be providing their lift home. While they'd been talking, I had shunted over the last few Gargants. Pantheon's cleanup, at least, had finished. Except Eric, he still had a few to go.
I landed near the others. "We're having Eric take us home," Lisa informed me. "Missy's not safe to use. Don't tell her I told you that, though. I told Theo to sit with her until she falls asleep so she won't argue. We'll come back for the hardware after everyone's spent a couple days in bed."
I glanced over at the boy who was finishing his job. "At least he got some sleep," I agreed.
Eric teleported over. "Okay, that's covered," he replied. "What's left?"
"You're sending everyone except Amelia and I home," Taylor instructed. "Then we're taking a trip with Moord Nag to cover her fee for this excursion." Taylor put her arm around Amy. I watched the badly muted interplay between their emotions. The only thing keeping either of them on their feet is the other one.
"I'll be coming with," I added. "If she tries to pull something, I'm the only person who could react in time to stop her."
"We'll be in a Dragon transport," Amy replied, and then yawned.
"You'll get a nap on the way, I hope," I argued.
"Just like old times," Amy mumbled. I watched as Riley's tech did its thing. The somewhat increased oxygen levels coupled with a light caffeine like stimulant meant to be absorbed by the lungs. It was doing what it could, but the system was reaching the point where the stimulant would stop helping. Then they'd crash hard.
"She's down," Taylor informed us. "Everyone goes home. See you later, Lisa."
Eric tapped Lisa, and she vanished. Then he shunted over. I walked over to my barely awake sister and her equally out of it fiancee. With very little ceremony, I simply grabbed the backs of their armor and took off. Their antigrav tied into mine and I took off, bringing them to the carrier vessel which radiated Moord Nag's particular aura of danger. The only person here that was as threatening as her was Dragon.
Once you rule out the artificial capes like Eidolon, I realized, there's a bias toward female parahumans being the most powerful. Dragon, Moord Nag, Missy, Riley, Lisa, Eric counts as a girl for this one, Lily. That woman with Cauldron. Fucking Glaistig Uaine. I might have dismissed all that as coincidence or something, but that was before I had seen Scion in person. His loneliness was a physical thing, I felt it wash over every cape that came near him, myself included.
"Y'can let us go," Amy muttered. "We can fly ourselves." Speaking of overpowered female parahumans.
"I know," I lied. "But we're in a bit of a rush."
I dropped them both down in front of the tinker craft, and walked forward. The pair followed me. They were still awake, kinda, at least. Eric popped up right next to me. "So, Faultline told me to tell you they got everything cleared with the UN," he spoke up. "Woulda told you sooner, but, yeah."
Yeah. "How long do we have?" I asked.
"Day after New Years," he answered. "She says it's the best she could do. They weren't happy about the news."
"I get it," I agreed. "Every day we wait costs a lot of money and potentially lives. They're frightened, and it's not like we can tell them what happened to Lily so they back the fuck off for a while."
"Do you think telling them would help?"
I shrugged. "Maybe. Probably not. Lily would kick our asses if we did, though."
"I know," he agreed.
"I'll talk to her," I told him as we started going up the ramp.
Moord Nag had already taken her position in the pilot seat of the vessel. Her shadow occupied the chair next to her.
<You are late,> she informed us as if we didn't already know.
<We had responsibilities to deal with,> Amy answered. The translation device made her sound a lot better than she really was right now.
<Speaking of,> I added. <We have a lot of stuff to worry about right now. Would you mind if we handled that during the trip? I wouldn't want it to seem like we're ignoring you for the flight.>
<Indeed, I would prefer that you did,> she agreed. <Ours is not a friendship, it is an alliance of convenience. Fear not, for as long as your mistress upholds her part of our contract, I shall abide by it as well.>
Mistress? Is that a translation bug? Whatever, I don't care enough to argue with her. <Works for me,> I responded as I led the others to the back of the vessel. It's going to be a long flight.
==============
A/N- Actually, I got nothing. Except sleepy Vista sounds adorable.
"About fucking time," I muttered as Khonsu vanished into wherever the hell he came from. My team started shunting back over to Avalon almost immediately.
"Hey, Vicky, mind giving me a hand?" Taylor asked.
Yes I do, I need to go check on Amy. "What's the sitch?"
"Most of the zerg that got hit by those time fields lost their shunt drives," she answered. "Janus is teleporting the cats back to base, but the gargants are just too large. You're the only one with a system that can handle sending them over."
God damn it. "Okay, I understand." On the plus side, it wasn't hard work, and I managed to make it look cool. Eric simply stood in a field as all the zerglings came to him double file. One touch, they'd vanish, and were no doubt ending up in the lawn of the magic tree embassy. I, on the other hand, got to move around. Ultralisks were just too heavy to walk through the streets without crushing them. Let the Protectorate heroes still here know just what I was capable of. I fought the bastard nonstop the entire time, resting only to get a lift from one location to the next, a half hour visit to Shady Conspiracy Central, and one hour he spent in China, and I was still capable of working as if I just got here.
The open comlink came up, with Amy speaking. "Sorry, we're all pretty much dead on our feet," she spoke.
"I understand," Alexandria, or Costa-Brown if you prefer, spoke. "I have things to deal with as well. I just want to find out if you are well enough. I heard about the barter you made to Moord Nag."
"I'll follow through before going home, don't worry," Amy answered. "Before I have time to think about exactly what I promised."
"She's one of the few that can actually make a difference in the final battle," Alexandria added. "I thank you for your efforts. On a more official note, you've been authorized to take some of the KEB tissue for your experiments. You're making better use of it than anyone else, after all."
"Which is pretty bizarre," Minerva replied. "Considering our... new legal status... you might want to show us less obvious favoritism in the future. People will start to get suspicious. Oh, and no, I don't know anything more about the Endmakers that I think is useful. Maybe Dragon's tracking Khonsu's retreat will give us something useful in the long run, but that's on the Tinkers to handle. Other than that, I'm certain no one at the meeting was involved. The Elite know I was there for that purpose, by the way. If they find the source first, we're looking at a fucking nightmare. They'll try to take control of them."
"That's troubling," Alexandria replied. "They're difficult enough for me to deal with as it is. I suppose it's too much to hope you have a way to prove it. Not showing at the Endbringer battles is, unfortunately, not enough to justify a full scale assault the way you've dealt with the Fallen and Teeth."
"No, and there won't be," Minerva admitted. "Sorry."
"I understand," Alexandria replied. "The warning is appreciated, regardless. I'll make contact when you've had a chance to recover from this ordeal. Do you have any time you'd prefer?"
"Well, it's only three days to Christmas, which is pretty much ruined for everyone on the planet," Minerva speculated. "If you find a way to sneak away during the vacation time, feel free to come over. Amelia makes the best turkey."
"You cook?" Alexandria asked. "I can never find the time, myself."
"No," Amy replied. "I... uh... grow it."
"Other than the texture, you'd never be able to tell the difference," Lisa insisted.
"I might even take you up on that," she agreed. "Now, I won't keep you. Weight of the world and all that, as I'm sure you're quite familiar with." Alexandria took off, going back to the Dragon vehicles that would be providing their lift home. While they'd been talking, I had shunted over the last few Gargants. Pantheon's cleanup, at least, had finished. Except Eric, he still had a few to go.
I landed near the others. "We're having Eric take us home," Lisa informed me. "Missy's not safe to use. Don't tell her I told you that, though. I told Theo to sit with her until she falls asleep so she won't argue. We'll come back for the hardware after everyone's spent a couple days in bed."
I glanced over at the boy who was finishing his job. "At least he got some sleep," I agreed.
Eric teleported over. "Okay, that's covered," he replied. "What's left?"
"You're sending everyone except Amelia and I home," Taylor instructed. "Then we're taking a trip with Moord Nag to cover her fee for this excursion." Taylor put her arm around Amy. I watched the badly muted interplay between their emotions. The only thing keeping either of them on their feet is the other one.
"I'll be coming with," I added. "If she tries to pull something, I'm the only person who could react in time to stop her."
"We'll be in a Dragon transport," Amy replied, and then yawned.
"You'll get a nap on the way, I hope," I argued.
"Just like old times," Amy mumbled. I watched as Riley's tech did its thing. The somewhat increased oxygen levels coupled with a light caffeine like stimulant meant to be absorbed by the lungs. It was doing what it could, but the system was reaching the point where the stimulant would stop helping. Then they'd crash hard.
"She's down," Taylor informed us. "Everyone goes home. See you later, Lisa."
Eric tapped Lisa, and she vanished. Then he shunted over. I walked over to my barely awake sister and her equally out of it fiancee. With very little ceremony, I simply grabbed the backs of their armor and took off. Their antigrav tied into mine and I took off, bringing them to the carrier vessel which radiated Moord Nag's particular aura of danger. The only person here that was as threatening as her was Dragon.
Once you rule out the artificial capes like Eidolon, I realized, there's a bias toward female parahumans being the most powerful. Dragon, Moord Nag, Missy, Riley, Lisa, Eric counts as a girl for this one, Lily. That woman with Cauldron. Fucking Glaistig Uaine. I might have dismissed all that as coincidence or something, but that was before I had seen Scion in person. His loneliness was a physical thing, I felt it wash over every cape that came near him, myself included.
"Y'can let us go," Amy muttered. "We can fly ourselves." Speaking of overpowered female parahumans.
"I know," I lied. "But we're in a bit of a rush."
I dropped them both down in front of the tinker craft, and walked forward. The pair followed me. They were still awake, kinda, at least. Eric popped up right next to me. "So, Faultline told me to tell you they got everything cleared with the UN," he spoke up. "Woulda told you sooner, but, yeah."
Yeah. "How long do we have?" I asked.
"Day after New Years," he answered. "She says it's the best she could do. They weren't happy about the news."
"I get it," I agreed. "Every day we wait costs a lot of money and potentially lives. They're frightened, and it's not like we can tell them what happened to Lily so they back the fuck off for a while."
"Do you think telling them would help?"
I shrugged. "Maybe. Probably not. Lily would kick our asses if we did, though."
"I know," he agreed.
"I'll talk to her," I told him as we started going up the ramp.
Moord Nag had already taken her position in the pilot seat of the vessel. Her shadow occupied the chair next to her.
<You are late,> she informed us as if we didn't already know.
<We had responsibilities to deal with,> Amy answered. The translation device made her sound a lot better than she really was right now.
<Speaking of,> I added. <We have a lot of stuff to worry about right now. Would you mind if we handled that during the trip? I wouldn't want it to seem like we're ignoring you for the flight.>
<Indeed, I would prefer that you did,> she agreed. <Ours is not a friendship, it is an alliance of convenience. Fear not, for as long as your mistress upholds her part of our contract, I shall abide by it as well.>
Mistress? Is that a translation bug? Whatever, I don't care enough to argue with her. <Works for me,> I responded as I led the others to the back of the vessel. It's going to be a long flight.
==============
A/N- Actually, I got nothing. Except sleepy Vista sounds adorable.
Faraway-R
Know what you're doing yet?
- Joined
- Sep 3, 2014
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- 643
Heh. Moord Nag has Amelia pegged - for all that "Taylor is a general and I am the leader" thoughts, it's still clear that Taylor is the one who wears pants (skin-tight ones, for eye-candy purposes) in the relationship. And no matter how tough Amelia might be, she is still a LL.
GiftofLove
A Gift From The Heart
- Joined
- Jun 16, 2014
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I figure that Amelia is smart enough to reinforce it with Ygdrassil and her power where needed. The thing doesn't need to last. It just needs needs to be noticeably human for Moore Nag.
Though I'm sure Predator would be just as happy with a bowl of baby puffs.
TanaNari
Verified Dick
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- Jan 10, 2015
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Given that Eidolon's shield that held Phir Se's time bomb couldn't do shit against those pillars in canon? I'd guess not.
They weaponized Yandere before. So why not?
I like you. You're one of the smart ones.
Beats the vast majority of the alternatives. Also: about damn time someone noticed ANYTHING from that chapter at all.
Uh... what?
The Shadowmind
Well worn.
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- May 29, 2014
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So will tracking Khonsu lead to them figuring out how to get to the sealed off dimensions eventually?
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To me, Taylia as a whole seems rather Tsundere.
Snake/Eater
Myth Maker of the North
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- Jan 11, 2015
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- 7,563
The worst thing to happen is if Taylia becomes sentient... that thing would have the genetic memory of every world the Entities have personally destroyed,that would make anyone crazy...
Daunmi
Shun the sun, night so nice
- Joined
- Jan 15, 2015
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Kind of wonder if they can offer India (or, the remaining population at least) the same sort of deal as Japan, in exchange for cape assistance. India had (and still has, considering the chapter/canon) some powerhouses, support them with suits, go for the synergies, and that could work out really well.
Which means it probably wouldn't happen. Because conflict, and a general lack of trust between people.
Which means it probably wouldn't happen. Because conflict, and a general lack of trust between people.