Amelia, Worm AU [Complete]

[Diller]

As creepy as this Endbringer is, it lost some of the impact (for me), because I so recently read a similar villain over on TGWP.

...

Surprise crossover?!

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Nah man. The infected aren't acting like a complete asshole who gets off on others pain and suffering.

 

[Ack]

After actually reading the Crystal chapter, I can't like it, and I couldn't like the Lily chapter before it for the same reason. My patience for new Endbringers ran out during Wendigo and this one flies right past 'reasonable kaiju' and into 'unnecessarily horrifying'.

I'll continue to read, but I'm just putting this objection into text.

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Um ... Endbringers are supposed to be unnecessarily horrifying.

Re-read the first Leviathan battle. Levi pulled so many fuck-you moments, turning what would have been bad to far worse, and he was up against only vaguely prepared opponents.

Endbringers are meant to horrify.

Mind you, this still doesn't stop me from wanting to see an Endbringer chapter where the EB rocks up and is taken down by something that they stopped using six EBs ago because it didn't work anymore. And everyone stands around going " ... huh."

 

[doomlord9]

Serious mode Levi comes in the form of a 500ft tsunami that blasts in from the ocean without warning at the speed of sound.

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Even worse, he uses the light refracting properties of water with perfectly shaped and positioned water to bend the light around him like a predator cloaking device, giving us a mostly invisible hyper-sonic enemy that makes everyone within 30 miles of him pop like soap bubbles as he flash-boils the water in the body.

 

[dasstan]

Nah man. The infected aren't acting like a complete asshole who gets off on others pain and suffering.

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I said similar, not identical. Besides, infectious evil is a pretty common trope. The lack of horror on my part is that I was relatively recently exposed to a similar concept in another story.

It's not a criticism at TanaNari, it's just an observation that it lacked personal impact. I can take a step back and go "Jesus Christ, that's horrifying," but subjectively, I'm just like "Well, this sucks. *waits for next chapter*"

 

[Diller]

Serious mode Levi comes in the form of a 500ft tsunami that blasts in from the ocean without warning at the speed of sound.

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Hence why I said maybe Leviathan. Wormverse is lucky Eidolon's subconscious while a dick is not an efficient dick thanks to Eidolon's desire to look like a hero.

Even worse, he uses the light refracting properties of water with perfectly shaped and positioned water to bend the light around him like a predator cloaking device, giving us a mostly invisible hyper-sonic enemy that makes everyone within 30 miles of him pop like soap bubbles as he flash-boils the water in the body.

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and I thought Weaver nine Levi was terrifying.

 

[The Shadowmind]

Serious Leviathan would just use his water control to levitate all the water in his range, and then have it drop. This, on an even larger scale.

The Entities operate at solar-system cracker scales. There is no parahuman combination that would stand even a trillionth of a chance against the Warrior/Thinker pair if they weren't at 0.0001% power due to starting the cycle.

 

[Diller]

Serious Leviathan would just use his water control to levitate all the water in his range, and then have it drop. This, on an even larger scale.

The Entities operate at solar-system cracker scales. There is no parahuman combination that would stand even a trillionth of a chance against the Warrior/Thinker pair if they weren't at 0.0001% power due to starting the cycle.

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Look at canon,even with Khrepri coordinating nearly every parahuman still alive and the EBs helping, Scion still would've won if they hadn't hit his emotional weakness and if Scion had simply turned off his human emulation shard to stop feeling emotions then he would've long killed everyone off before they found his weakness.

If Scion stopped giving a shit about his lifespan, then he would just spam his PTV like power.

Hell, I'm worried that this fic might see a more serious Scion. Once Eidolon and GU annoyed Scion enough, he simply whipped out his PTV and BSOD Eidolon into basically commiting suicide. With all the measures Panthenon,Caludron, Dragon,etc are making for him and the power combinations Scion might go "fuck my life. I just want you all dead."

Only reason I don't think he'll win in the end is because this will be the "worlds darkest fixfic."

 

[evildice]

I agree with you on this, my point is that it won't do this unless they figure out a solution in that regard.

This Endbringer is a direct assault on their morals and morale, if they get any hope that they can fix it in the manner you suggest it will react to remove that hope in whatever is the best way to twist the blade that it can figure out.

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My point is that even the worse case outcome is an improvement over the current situation. Even if the Endbringer then moves to eating the whole brain instead of just the stem, that's still a win.

So yeah, there's quite possibly no way to save the infected. I'm not even hoping for that. I'm just trying to maximize the chance for a happy surprise.

It's the morale thing that I don't get. I can see how and why it works but personally I don't get it, it just wouldn't work on me. If I was the one calling the shots, I would see the moral thing to do would be to sterilize the entire city of even single-celled microbes as soon as I could get whatever method to be used ready and the retreat finishes. The infected are already lost in a slightly more terrible manner than if Leviathan had managed to get into a shelter, the best thing to do is to prevent their weaponized corpses from infecting the rest.

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1/ Not everyone in the city is infected. Sterilizing non-infected citizens is a failure.

2/ Killing things that look like civilians, including women and children, is not easy. You may be a trained sniper or sociopath or internet badass or whatever, but you're in the minority. Most humans are affected by things even with training and experience. Check out some studies of how cops react to being forced to fire their weapon in the line of duty, or how few soldiers are able to fire on the enemy. Knowing what's the "right" thing to do, and being able to do that thing, are not always the same.

- - -

EDIT:

And then the cordon around the "saved" that they can't afford to man immediately gets overrun and the glass gets eaten, undoing all their work.

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Glassed =/= saved.

Glassed == neutralized.

Saved == "battle's long over, clones are finally done".

Eggs =/= chickens, don't count them until they're hatched.

 

[SwiftRosenthal]

Um ... Endbringers are supposed to be unnecessarily horrifying.

Re-read the first Leviathan battle. Levi pulled so many fuck-you moments, turning what would have been bad to far worse, and he was up against only vaguely prepared opponents.

Endbringers are meant to horrify.

Mind you, this still doesn't stop me from wanting to see an Endbringer chapter where the EB rocks up and is taken down by something that they stopped using six EBs ago because it didn't work anymore. And everyone stands around going " ... huh."

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The problem is, these chapters don't really advance the plot. They show that Eidolon's subconscious is a dick that hates Pantheon because they do what he can't, sure, but we knew that already. The only new information from the Wendigo fight was the new power combo (two capes whose names I've already forgotten) and the single step Lisa made towards "Fuck Eidolon." Everything else, up to and including the destruction of BB, was irrelevant.

With this one, I don't even know. It's boring. And since boredom is one of the worst reactions an audience can have, that's kind of a problem.

 

[Ack]

Maybe that newly empowered cape, the one that had the recent interlude, will come up with something awesome?

 

[TanaNari]

The problem is, these chapters don't really advance the plot.

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Only if you're not paying any attention at all. Or don't consider character development part of the plot.

Also: slice of life (where life is shitty a lot) fic. I don't NEED plot.

 

[Ack]

Only if you're not paying any attention at all. Or don't consider character development part of the plot.

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Actually, you know what I'd like to see? I'd like to see someone come to the dawning realisation that something's about to happen - and manage to stop it.

For Eidolon's subconscious, or whatever's designing these new Endbringers, which are so carefully crafted to screw with the Pantheon, to fuck up. To make a creature that looks great, kicks the ass of 90% of the heroes, but for one overlooked powerset to utterly no-sell it, completely. Stop it dead. No last-minute fuck-you. No second, back-up, just-in-case way to fuck with them. Before it even begins to come online properly, the very narrow focus of intent gets in its way, and it's done.

And, you know, they get some sort of hint that it's Eidolon from this.

 

[TanaNari]

Yeah. I've seen the many times you've requested something like that.

You're free to write an omake?

 

[Daunmi]

For Eidolon's subconscious, or whatever's designing these new Endbringers, which are so carefully crafted to screw with the Pantheon, to fuck up. To make a creature that looks great, kicks the ass of 90% of the heroes, but for one overlooked powerset to utterly no-sell it, completely. Stop it dead. No last-minute fuck-you. No second, back-up, just-in-case way to fuck with them. Before it even begins to come online properly, the very narrow focus of intent gets in its way, and it's done.

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Isn't that what happened with Wendigo?

 

[The Shadowmind]

I want Genius Loci to successfully takeover an Endbringer.

 

[SwiftRosenthal]

Only if you're not paying any attention at all. Or don't consider character development part of the plot.

Also: slice of life (where life is shitty a lot) fic. I don't NEED plot.

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I prefer the slice of life segments, and even the "time to curbstomp a human villain" segments like the trips to Houston/Chicago/NYC. The last one was... when Eric was introduced? How many chapters ago was that? How many Endbringers ago was that? Again, it feels like you've gotten stuck in a cycle of [happy moments] -> [drama and feels] -> [NEW HORRIFYING ENDBRINGER] -> [repeat], with no way out until the inevitable Fuck Eidolon moment. That scene only feels farther away every time the cycle repeats, not closer like it should.

If this is what the canon timeskip era would have felt like, I'm glad Wildbow never wrote it.

 

[GiftofLove]

I want Genius Loci to successfully takeover an Endbringer.

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Rey does too.

 

[evildice]

with no way out until the inevitable Fuck Eidolon moment.

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Missy: "One two three not it."

Lisa: "Not it."

Dinah: "100% chance I'm not it."

Taylia: "Nope."

Crystal: "Why is everyone looking at me?"

 

[TanaNari]

Isn't that what happened with Wendigo?

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Well, there is that. Poor thing didn't even get to be truly terrifying before it was killed.

with no way out until the inevitable Fuck Eidolon moment. That scene only feels farther away every time the cycle repeats, not closer like it should.

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Well, since you asked so nicely...

Spoiler: I'll give you a free spoiler

It SHOULD feel further away. That's because there will never be a "Fuck Eidolon" moment.

At no point during this story. Shall it be discovered. That Eidolon made the Endbringers. During his lifetime. So much for how "inevitable" it is.

So, y'know, if that's what you need to enjoy this story. You can quit reading now. You're wasting your time and mine.

If not? Then by all means, enjoy the story.

 

[thebrute7]

Why the fuck does everyone insist that Eidolon is at fault all the time?

I mean, I know that the fandom likes to blow a PtV'ed comment by Scion, crafted to fuck Eidolon up into him definitively being the source of the Endbringers, but even if he was, what the fuck makes people think he has any control over them?

It seems to me that him being the source of the Endbringers would have been a one-time deal. His power happened to pull the 'Activate Endbringers' shard, used his mindset of 'I need worthy opponents' as a general programming guideline, and then it got cycled out.

I mean, isn't it at least equally plausible that Eidolon is no longer involved at all? That the Endbringer control is functioning because it got turned on and is now doing precisely what it was designed to do in the first place? That being to generally fuck society and foster conflict up so that the Shards can get their juicy data and to make sure there aren't any threats to the cycle. And that it is targetting Pantheon specifically, not because Eidolon is jealous, but because Pantheon is the greatest extant threat to the cycle?

Maybe it's just me being tired of everyone blaming Eidolon for everything when the only evidence for it is a single comment in canon that was specifically crafted to fuck with his head.

 

[dasstan]

Spoiler

During his lifetime.

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Spoiler

Nice loophole you got there.

Does this mean there will be a scene where someone pees on Eidolon's grave?

 

[TanaNari]

Spoiler

Nice loophole you got there.

Does this mean there will be a scene where someone pees on Eidolon's grave?

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Maybe. No promises.

 

[The Shadowmind]

Spoiler

In Ziz's preditions, either (Scion) or (Eidolon) would be dead, if that is an that exclusive XOR, please respond with A Duck.
If it was an inclusive OR or, please ignore this question.

 

[Daunmi]

Well, there is that. Poor thing didn't even get to be truly terrifying before it was killed.

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Actually, I found Wendigo to be much worse (in a good way, since Endbringer) then the current one. That could just be the uniqueness factor of how it worked (since, as I said, I unfortunately already saw something like this Endbringer in another fic, so that kind of changes how much of an impact it can have on me), or it could just be my mindset and how I place value on different things/aspects of life. I don't know.

And there's always personal preference I guess.

Spoiler: I'll give you a free spoiler

During his lifetime.

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Firstly, you've included a loophole... but you've included it as a very obvious loophole. So I'm really not sure if you're just putting it there to tease.

Secondly, I kind of like this. I mean, even in canon it wasn't something people ever really understood, so why the hell should they work it out in your story?

Spoiler

Does this mean there will be a scene where someone pees on Eidolon's grave?

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Considering the number of villains that he's probably pissed off over the years, writing that scene would not be indicative of anything.

please respond with A Duck

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... Considering his avatar, he can't not respond with a duck.

 

[TanaNari]

Spoiler

In Ziz's preditions, either (Scion) or (Eidolon) would be dead, if that is an that exclusive XOR, please respond with A Duck.
If it was an inclusive OR or, please ignore this question.

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The word "or" wasn't used at all. So... neither.

Considering the number of villains that he's probably pissed off over the years, writing that scene would not be indicative of anything.

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This is a valid point which I had not considered. Odds go up! Maybe.

Firstly, you've included a loophole... but you've included it as a very obvious loophole. So I'm really not sure if you're just putting it there to tease.

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More of a reference to canon than anything.

 

[SwiftRosenthal]

Well, since you asked so nicely...

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I specifically said that I prefer the slice of life and street-level action, so... no?

Answer this, then: if the only action sequences are Endbringer fights, what makes them special? Going back to the example Ack gave, the canon Leviathan fight effectively raised the stakes beyond street level and prepared the audience for the S9 and Echidna. Here, we had Ziz for an IC and OOC hope injection (and extreme property damage), Barghest as (retrospectively) a false step on Eidolon's therapy route, Behemoth for a good Yangban showing, and Khonsu for Lily feels and the canon Grand Meeting. The Twins' "Surprise! FUCK YOU." - only showing the fight in flashbacks - was handled well, and offered another (false) step on Eidolon's therapy route. I didn't find Leviathan II disagreeable either.

Again, I didn't get bored until Wendigo and this current fight. If this is the last one, even if it's just the last on-screen one for 100-150 chapters, that's great. If not, my discontent will probably get worse.

 

[TanaNari]

Guess which role you're playing right now?

... Seriously, though. You've started to bore me. Just because you don't enjoy something doesn't mean it's anything other than your problem. Others are enjoying it just fine. In fact, this one in particular seems to be a pretty big hit for the majority.

Answer this, then: if the only action sequences are Endbringer fights, what makes them special?

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They're the level conflict in this story is at. A counterpoint to their normally fairly peaceful, even charmed by Worm standards, lives. To remind everyone that despite everything they're accomplishing, they're not at the point they need to be. To frustrate, confound, and wound the characters.

They exist as a constant reminded to the characters that they're still not good enough. Every step forward, two steps back.

Their canon function.

 

[B.B. Rain]

So...Are we still capped at 20 Endbringers?

'Cause, I mean...Just how many new ones are you prepared to whip out?

And do you feel you can keep upping the creative horror ante?

...Also, if we're thinking more then 20 Endbringers, chances of their battles continuing to be a regular occurrence post-Zion?

Hell, given all the directions you're finding for exploration, are you actually planning to wrap this story up after Zion's taken down or otherwise neutralized, or is canon's overarching Final Boss incidental to this story's conclusion?

 

[Biigoh]

 

[Godwinson]

Actually, you know what I'd like to see? I'd like to see someone come to the dawning realisation that something's about to happen - and manage to stop it.

For Eidolon's subconscious, or whatever's designing these new Endbringers, which are so carefully crafted to screw with the Pantheon, to fuck up. To make a creature that looks great, kicks the ass of 90% of the heroes, but for one overlooked powerset to utterly no-sell it, completely. Stop it dead. No last-minute fuck-you. No second, back-up, just-in-case way to fuck with them. Before it even begins to come online properly, the very narrow focus of intent gets in its way, and it's done.

And, you know, they get some sort of hint that it's Eidolon from this.

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Nah, only the opposition is allowed to be infallible. You should know better, Ack.