Amelia, Worm AU [Complete]

[Jim Starluck]

Taranari, did Eidolon wind up using his "Mass Resurrection" ability this time around? Or did non-Pantheon casualties of this fight stay dead?

 

[Sheaman3773]

"He was using a copy of her power for this, wasn't he?" I asked.


"Exactly the same power," Lisa confirmed. "Reflexes, combat sense, the whole nine yards."

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That...is not how Eidolon's power worked in canon...

It casts shards off, and it retains shards that will allow it to draw power from those shards.

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The glass storm turned toward him alone. And then it stopped, all the blades falling to the ground. Eidolon started glowing, and the environment started to simply vanish around him, spreading slowly outward. The traps collapsed liked they'd been reduced to water that was then turned to steam, and the Endbringers themselves started to melt. Then the cameras, finally, stopped working.

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Goddammit, David, you and your fucking issues...

the Endbringers came around LONG before Eidolon started losing his powers.

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...I could swear that I remembered Eidolon lamenting that Behemoth hadn't shown up while he was still at full strength, but I don't remember the wording well enough to find it when I searched. It is possible that I'm mistaken, of course.

Do you have a citation for your assertion, by the by?

 

[edale]

[basking intensifies]
Tana probably had it planned, though. I mean, mentioning a VCR in this day and age pretty much requires someone to comment on it.

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It should be noted that:

-Earth-Alpha was an analog to our world.
-Earth-Alpha/Beta divergence was in the 1980's.
-Earth-Beta was behind Earth-Alpha, technology-wise, in several areas, including entertainment.

It is entirely within the realms of possibility that VHS, or possibly even Beta-tapes (which, btw, were superior to VHS in almost every way) are still standard in Earth-Beta.

Do you have a citation for your assertion, by the by?

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Don't got the time to sort through over 1mil words atm, so no citation for now; but I recall Eidolon constantly bemoaning that has powers weren't nearly as strong as they were when the Endbringers first appeared. I also recall mention that it was years of fighting the Endbringers before he even noticed his powers were weakening. Those 2 facts imply to me that his powers were 100% when the Endbringers first showed up.

I think I recall that he had only been taking booster formulas for a bit over a decade...but not sure on that point.

 

[ribs]

Now I'm wondering how long before a mix up happens and someone gets a twin. Or if you put the wrong mind in a body will the body keep old powers or get some new ones.

 

[tordg]

like buildings that can be more than a couple stories tall (because that's all the Yggdrasil can support)

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I would like to inquire about using SEB infused Yggdrasil to make space elevators. Even if space colonization is way more expensive than just going to another universe, satellites are always useful, and it may come in handy to have a staging ground for when they do go for a Dyson Swarm/Sphere/whatever. And then of course that would imply REALLY sturdy skyscrapers (assuming SEB has similar tensile/compressile strength, obviously).

"Well, I recently made my first Billion dollars," she replied. "And I asked myself 'what do you do to celebrate becoming a billionaire?' The obvious answer was to spend money on something stupid and useless. Since I didn't want to house train a pet rock, and it turns out you can only lease politicians, not actually buy one outright, I opted for this."

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Gasp! It's more devious than I ever imagined!

Eidolon has a very showy disintegration power that actually grants him more energy instead of depleting it. So things are looking up on the anti-Scion front?

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Welp. I can't wait for Pantheon to properly put together what this means... Scratch that: what I want is a scene showing just how happy Eidolon is now (and how unhappy he is compared to how he should be).

 

[Daunmi]

A/N- Yeah. Tohu and Bohu are assholes.

Eidolon has a very showy disintegration power that actually grants him more energy instead of depleting it. So things are looking up on the anti-Scion front?

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And we know how much you love to leave things looking up!

 

[edale]

Taranari, did Eidolon wind up using his "Mass Resurrection" ability this time around? Or did non-Pantheon casualties of this fight stay dead?

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The resurrection power required tagging an individual beforehand, and the tag expires 8 minutes later. That power is basically tailor-made to make him look good vs that endbringer (too tired to bother looking how to spell it, the new one that started with a 'B'), it has very limited utility in any other situation, other than possibly rezzing the initial wave of deaths from an EB fight, but he won't do that, because now he has his powers back and can prove himself by fighting again.

 

[Daunmi]

"It manifested Taylor," she added. "Activated the emergency overrides on our armors to pull us out of our nice, safe, Avalon. And last but not least, set the Zerg on the defenders. Then it manifested a copy of Lily's powers. And for the ultimate fuck you? Shatterbird. Say goodbye to all those nice Dragon suits that our Zerg were playing meatshields for."

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Tohu emerged from the indent made into the side of Bohu, and I recognized Atropos' costumed face [...] A second face formed on Tohu, Taylor's.

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You kind of swapped these around in your two explanations. Not sure if it's something that needs fixing or not though...

 

[edale]

You kind of swapped these around in your two explanations. Not sure if it's something that needs fixing or not though...

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Had to think about that for a minute, heh. I see what you're saying, in Lisa's quick summary, she said powers were Taylor->Lily->Shatterbird, but in video it was Lily->Taylor->Shatterbird. Nice catch.

 

[Daunmi]

Had to think about that for a minute, heh. I see what you're saying, in Lisa's quick summary, she said powers were Taylor->Lily->Shatterbird, but in video it was Lily->Taylor->Shatterbird. Nice catch.

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It's not really an 'error' exactly. End story = We got fucked over, no matter what way the powers were selected. It's the tiniest of barely relevant consistency problems. I just thought I'd mention it.

 

[TanaNari]

It was intentional. Human beings don't always (ever) explain things exactly perfectly. This was that. Unreliable narration occurs in-story as well.

 

[Mogget]

I wonder if Eidolon's lack of control over Endbringers could be attributed to the same reason case 53s can have monstrous/unstable bodies. Vial powers tend to have some of the controls missing, Eidolon's missing regulator just happened to be the EB part instead of the "body" part or something.

 

[dasstan]

I wonder if Eidolon's lack of control over Endbringers could be attributed to the same reason case 53s can have monstrous/unstable bodies. Vial powers tend to have some of the controls missing, Eidolon's missing regulator just happened to be the EB part instead of the "body" part or something.

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I think it's mostly because he isn't aware that he's doing it. Eidolon shouldn't really be compared to the other parahumans because he's got the shard that accesses... pretty much all of Eden's shards. At full strength, he's a credible threat against Scion, all by himself.

 

[Inverness]

I think it's mostly because he isn't aware that he's doing it. Eidolon shouldn't really be compared to the other parahumans because he's got the shard that accesses... pretty much all of Eden's shards. At full strength, he's a credible threat against Scion, all by himself.

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And like Panacea he was only using a fraction of what his power was really capable of even though its out of ignorance rather than unwillingness like in Panacea's case.

Part of that is him preferring big, flashy type powers all of the time. I don't think he's ever used a master, stranger, tinker, or changer type power.

Tinker powers take too long to build the good stuff? Use a time dilation power. It's hard to get raw materials in a time dilation field? Use a power that creates raw materials.

Next thing you know Eidolon will have created Mechagodzilla. A copyright infringement lawsuit would follow shortly.

 

[dasstan]

A copyright infringement lawsuit would follow shortly.

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That's what the thinker power is for. *taps side of nose.*

 

[ArisKatsaris]

Same way it happens pretty much anywhere else in the real world. Cultural preference

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In the real world, countries are NOT prohibited from discriminating between 'cultures' and 'personal preferences'. Countries instead very clearly use their laws to support & encourage the sort of culture and the sort of 'personal preferences' they prefer to exist.

E.g. even if one consider themselves to be part of a nudist culture, in the real world you are only allowed to be a nudist in certain very specific locales, e.g. nudist beaches and nudist resorts.

When "Naked Sex World" tourists come to visit Amish country, is the Amish community allowed to persecute them for public indecency when they are being nude in public, or when they're engaging in incestuous group sex together in public? If yes, that's obviously the Amish community's law treating the Amish lifestyle as preferable to the Naked Sex World's lifestyle.

I don't have an easy solution to all this, mind you. Were *I* the god of that dimension, I'd probably say that each community has to right to restrict entry as much as they want, but they of course shouldn't have the right to restrict exit -- but my goals would probably be different to the ones you mentioned -- to diversify cultures as a sort of vast experiment about which cultures work and which cultures don't. I think the Avalonian constitution as written now would ensure an end-result which culturally is more like the American melting pot and less like the Archipelago (and for all I know, that may of course be for the best).

 

[SirKaid]

It's probably a good thing that I'm not in charge of Avalon, because the whole thing just screams out, "Use me for unethical but extremely interesting social experiments! Think of all the delicious !!SCIENCE!! we could be doing together, SirKaid! Use me!" and that inevitably leads to horrifying psychological trauma for everyone involved.

 

[Izicata]

It's probably a good thing that I'm not in charge of Avalon, because the whole thing just screams out, "Use me for unethical but extremely interesting social experiments! Think of all the delicious !!SCIENCE!! we could be doing together, SirKaid! Use me!" and that inevitably leads to horrifying psychological trauma for everyone involved.

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We can finally watch languages evolve out of grunting and pointing! All we need to do is stick a few dozen newborn babies on an island somewhere, have the Yggdrasil take care of them until they're grown up, and record the whole thing. This'll revolutionize anthropology!

 

[doomlord9]

Nah, more along the lines of Fallout's Vault Experiments. Like THIS.

 

[Snake/Eater]

what about wmd platforms on the moon...that would be a great deterrent.

 

[tEN]

Nah, more along the lines of Fallout's Vault Experiments. Like THIS.

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I read a great crackfic where they nabbed a bunch of preteens and filled the vault with material promoting free love.

They didn't get it. At all.

 

[dasstan]

what about wmd platforms on the moon...that would be a great deterrent.

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Who are they deterring, exactly? Everyone on Earth-Avalon is living on Amelia's WMD. Putting a WMD platform on the moon is silly when she can poke the ground with her toe and quell a rebellion on the other side of the world.

 

[Snake/Eater]

Who are they deterring, exactly? Everyone on Earth-Avalon is living on Amelia's WMD. Putting a WMD platform on the moon is silly when she can poke the ground with her toe and quell a rebellion on the other side of the world.

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not if she's dead....rule number 1 in a fist fight ....always cheat if the other guy is stronger,smarter or prettier.

 

[TanaNari]

Amelia, Ch 253- Victoria

Ames up Debrief Then your folks 2 hrs​

A text message? I just stared at the phone. I get told my sister's back from the dead by a text message. What the actual fuck?


I sighed and hopped over to the next rooftop, then made another jump to stick to the wall of a building. With Emma dedicated to finding a way to heal Zach, and the kids in school, and most of my other friends in Europe, I had suddenly found my life was very boring. On what passed for the 'plus side', with Taylor no longer allowed to play omnipresent crime deterrent, there were plenty of scumbags I could smack around for fun.


My power was a godsend for snooping out scumbags, now. Lifesign detection didn't have a problem with things like walls, unless the walls were alive like Amelia's constructs. They were also really good for spotting things like drug and alcohol abuse. So a woman on meth having sex with some man in an alleyway? All kinds of red flags. Some of which I really would have preferred to avoid, but such is life in the streets of Brockton Bay once again.


Eh, don't even care, cops can have this one. I flipped open my phone and hit the speed dial. "Non emergency police hotline, please report your call," I woman responded.


"This is Victoria," I replied. "Got drug abuse, public indecency, and probably prostitution. Alleyway behind the liquor store on 8th and Washington. You got about, I'd say, four minutes to bust them. When the cops get there, ask them to be sure and let the guy know there's a good chance he now has herpes. Oh, and the woman needs to be treated for mild frostbite. It's way too cold out to be doing what she's doing and those drugs are not helping her any."


"How do you know all that?" she asked.


"It's how my power works," I answered back. She must be new.


"Understood," the woman replied. "If you don't mind me saying so, that is disturbingly specific."


"Alexandria calls it the worst most amazing power," I replied, then I hung up the phone.


So now I have two hours to kill. Video games weren't fun without Zach complaining about getting his ass handed to him. What ever happened to Hookwolf? Oh, right, he's in the Birdcage somewhere. Guess I could stop by the Palanquin. Annoy Faultline a bit. No, still in Europe.


Fuck it. I returned home.


Aunt Sarah's car was already there when I got close. So, for that matter, was Dad's. My death breaks them up, Amy's death gets them back together again. Yay, world. That's one of the things I should be happy about, right? Nope, can't have that.


I opened the door. "Hey, Vicky, did you hear they woke up Amy?" Crystal asked. I watched her die. And Zach. And the kids. And they don't even remember it happening. To them it was just getting out of the chair.


I'd been through it, too, of course. But watching it happen to someone else... especially watching it happen to Zach, who we all thought was immortal. He wasn't suppose to be able to die, and his power was doing its damnedest to make sure he didn't even when it would have been kinder if he could.


I didn't think Dean would die, either. He was a ranged fighter. Fuck, his power didn't even work on Endbringers, and everyone knew it. He didn't have to be out there. He shouldn't have been fighting Leviathan at all.


"Yeah, got the text," I replied. "Something about a debrief and then a family get together."


"Well, don't sound so excited," Crystal muttered. "I thought you'd be happy about."


"Fuck," I muttered. "Sorry. I am. It's just that I have a lot on my mind." If Zach were here he'd probably say something like how I was having trouble deciding how many people to invite to a threesome. Then Riley, Emma or I would give him a good smack and the mood would be magically lightened. If Dean were here, he'd pull me aside and ask me if I was okay. I'd lie and say I was fine. And he'd pretend to believe me while making it clear that if I actually wanted to talk, he'd be there to listen. I could go for either of those right about now.


Crystal just looked at me and decided not to say anything at all.


"Welcome to the party, firecracker," Dad exclaimed from the living room.


"Hey, Dad," I replied, forcing a smile as I walked into room. And when I forced it, I did it on the full level, using my powers to make every muscle behave as I commanded. Another trick my Passenger picked up from its 'mother'. "So, how long are you planning to be in town this time?"


"A couple days," he replied. "Things are pretty calm right now. I think it's the gateways. All the groups worth remembering the name of are still trying to figure out what to do with them. Trying to get their fingers into the proverbial pie."


"Yeah," I agreed. "Assholes are already making a mess of Europe."


"At least Amy's world won't have that problem," he laughed. "That 'we are the biosphere' line. Priceless. I can't wait to see the look on the first schmuck's face that thinks it's a bluff."


"So, Dad," I smiled. "Does that mean you plan on moving to Avalon?"


"Not even a consideration," he replied. "Don't get me wrong, I love my daughter and I wish her the best, but I think I'd hate living on Avalon."


I blinked. That's a surprise. Judging by the biosense, we were all surprised. Crystal was actually a little on the offended side, she still hadn't decided to make the move, but she was strongly considering it.


"What do you mean, Mark?" Aunt Sarah asked cautiously.


"Avalon's a great idea, but it won't work," he explained. "People don't do well like that. We need things to strive for, things to fight against. Human beings are at their best when there's a goal, and struggles. Something to strive for. We fall apart when you take that away. Spoiled rich kids that have never had to work in their lives. Welfare systems that take away a need to work to survive. Refugee camps. Reservations. They take away self sufficiency, and with it self respect. No matter how beautiful they make their garden, it's still their world and everyone on it will be dependent upon them."


"You think they'll fail?" Carol asked.


"No, it'll work," Mark answered. "But when it works, it's going to be their accomplishment and no one else's. Some people will be okay with that. But being dependent on others for all my successes in life? I've been there, and I can't go back."


Huh. There's a way to put it. "Yeah," I admitted. "I feel the same way. I love what my sister's trying to accomplish. But I'd rather earn it myself than let someone else give it to me. But you said it way better."


"Maybe when I was younger," Sarah replied. "I've been through too much in the last few years. I'm all for fighting the good fight, don't get me wrong. But I've paid too high a price, too often. If Amy and Taylor can achieve what I never could, then I'm happy for them. Let me live my life in peace."


"I think I fall somewhere between," Carol replied. "You're right, Mark. It wouldn't feel right to let others do the work for me. But there are things I can do for myself without needing to fight. Normal people have careers while letting the police keep them safe. I can do the same. All that being said, I'm happy with my life and career here. I have no reason to leave."


"Don't count your chickens before they hatch," Crystal replied. "There's still plenty of fighting to be done. All those new Endbringers are still out there. Until that problem is solved, no one can truly be safe."


That killed the mood pretty thoroughly. And they don't even know the threat that is Scion.


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

A/N- Only gonna be the one chapter today, folks. Been feeling under the weather. Should be fine tomorrow.

 

[dasstan]

not if she's dead....rule number 1 in a fist fight ....always cheat if the other guy is stronger,smarter or prettier.

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Zerg spawning pits? Any effort that involves going to the moon to place a WMD is better spent equipping the Earth itself. Besides, unless you're firing things at fractions of the speed of light, anything launched from the moon is going to take a while to get to Earth. Which gives someone the chance to shoot it down.
edit: Well, shit. I got zombie-Imp'd by the author himself.

 

[CptTagon]

I can get behind Mark's reasoning. I don't think I share it, at least not on the nation-wide level he's talking about, but I can see where he's coming from. Also, surprised that there are still drug dealers in Brockton Bay, unless the woman left town to get her fix.

 

[Daunmi]

Also, surprised that there are still drug dealers in Brockton Bay, unless the woman left town to get her fix.

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It's amazing disgusting how fast drugs move around. I wish I could say I was surprised.

 

[Deltawaves1]

TanaNari get well soon man. But for the record have you considered anything for a sequel? Given the dimensional shunt tech, the possibilities are endless. At least asuming anyone is alive come the end of the story.

 

[Daunmi]

Been feeling under the weather. Should be fine tomorrow.

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Makes joke about everyone being underneath weather.
Makes joke about tomorrow never coming.

You know what you should do? Take how miserable you're feeling and pour it into your writing. It's a Worm fic, it'll only make it better!

 

[GiftofLove]

I appreciate the thought Mark put into his decision, but I disagree. It's pretty well documented that humans have a lot of trouble being happy with what they have.

There a plenty of things besides housing and sustenance to strive for, after all. I mean, people who can eat and have a home over their heads don't stop having hopes or things they strive for.