I, Panacea (Worm SI Fanfic)

[Ack]

Okay, as I stated, we're all swinging our own personal headcanon around. By the way, Sheaman3773 , why does my input not count?

But my position is that a double-tap, fired fast enough and from close enough, will penetrate Vicky's shield. There's a clip on Youtube of a man firing shots (semi-auto) at a rate of roughly seven shots a second, so yeah, even if it only takes a fifth of a second to recharge, the second shot would get through.

Until actual WoG is presented to dispute this, the fic stands as written.

 

[Ack]

Looked some more at the actual story, and adjusted the Coil/Vicky fight scene a little.

 

[Sheaman3773]

No, that's the "whatever else goes on in the argument, I'm not involved because it's basically degenerated into name calling at this point" technique. As you proved.

Click to shrink...

Where's a [Citation Needed] graphic when you need it?

All I've criticized is your actions. At times, in a less than serious manner. No name-calling at all.

If you want to say it's gotten away from the actual argument, I mean, I guess you could. Though I explicitly said that I wasn't focusing on you as a part of the GG discussion, but because your statement was blatantly false. So...you would just be repeating something that was established at the start of us talking to each other. But you could truthfully say that, if you wanted.

By the way, Sheaman3773 , why does my input not count?

Click to shrink...

I already said why.

I tend not to include the OP as a part of these discussions, because they usually stay out of them. You were speaking of the disagreement going on, and Ack hadn't pitched in yet when you wrote that.

Click to shrink...

I was speaking of the people who were talking in the comments. At the time that he wrote the line I was objecting to, that did not include you. My cite for that is in my post.

When I tallied without paying attention to timing, I did include you.

Sheaman3773, The Shadowmind, cyberswordsman, and Xilph (4) vs Prince Charon, Galeiam, Ack, and I (4).

Click to shrink...

Right there. Though that "I" should be "edale." I Ieft it unedited so that it's clear that I didn't edit it.

Looked some more at the actual story, and adjusted the Coil/Vicky fight scene a little.

Click to shrink...

Adjusted to avoid contention. Okay, nice.

I'm sorry my comment incited all of this in the first place.

 

[Atropa]

Holy shit can this argument please just die already?

 

[evildice]

Holy shit can this argument please just die already?

Click to shrink...

Not unless you shoot it while it's already covered in something lethal.

 

[esotericist]

Not unless you shoot it while it's already covered in something lethal.

Click to shrink...

What if you reported the thread twice really quickly?

 

[Ack]

What if you reported the thread twice really quickly?

Click to shrink...

It's dead, Jim.

 

[edale]

It's dead, Jim.

Click to shrink...

Damn it Jim! I'm a doctor, not a... oh wait... yea I'll get right on that.

 

[Ack]

I, Panacea

Part Eleven: Stations of Canon


Wait.

What?

I said wait. There was something else that you needed to do before we go in.

What's that?

Bugs. Lots of bugs.

But Taylor – I mean Skitter – already has a swarm with her.

Remember what I told you on the bus? The sorts of bugs you can make?

I … I've never done that sort of thing before.

Actually, yes, you have. I saw you do it. It just wasn't you, that time.

… that doesn't actually make any sense. Although she knew it did, in a really weird way.

There was a sigh inside Amy's head. So tell me what part of this does.

… you have a good point.

She heard Vicky clearing her throat, and looked up guiltily. "Sorry, what?"

"I was just asking you if you're ready to rock and roll," Vicky told her. "You were a million miles away."

"I, uh, just thought of something I had to do," Amy replied. She looked toward Skitter. "What sort of bugs do you have here?"

'Here' was a shadowed alleyway just across the road from a construction site. Amy wasn't sure why they were here, but this was where Lisa had led them to.

"Uh, hornets, honeybees, wasps, brown recluses, black widows, fire ants -"

Amy cut her off. "I'll need some beetles and hornets."

"How many?"

She pushed her sleeves up. "As many as you can give me. Land them on my arms and hands."

Tattletale suddenly looked very intent. "He's told you something, hasn't he?"

"'He'?" asked Glory Girl. "Wh- oh, right. The guy in your head, right?"

Amy nodded. "Yeah."

"This is still very weird, and not a little creepy," Vicky decided. "What's he told you?"

"Stuff," Amy replied. "Lots of important stuff." Already, beetles of all sizes were descending upon her upturned arms and hands, interspersed with large hornets. She couldn't see them at all well – the alley was ill-lit – but as they touched her skin, she registered each and every one.

What should I make?

Think about what she's going to need them for. That should inform your choice.

Ah, right. She recalled which bugs he'd told her she could make. Visualising them, she could see the steps to making it work. Okay, yeah, I think I've got it.

Good. He paused. Now, I don't want to beat a dead horse, but you are okay with this, right? I get the impression you're still not so sure about helping supervillains.

Sure. I'll make the bugs but I'm taking away their ability to breed or eat, plus their aggressive instincts. I don't want Skitter to have them for too long.

That sounds fine. So long as they work here and now.

She frowned, wary at his easy acquiescence. You aren't going to give me a speech about how I should be more trusting?

Do you not actually trust her, or are you doing this to see how I react?

I – She paused. I guess it's a little bit of both?

How did you expect me to act?

To, I don't know, tell me that we don't have time for this crap, and remind me how well Taylor and I got along on the bus.

Listen, if you still don't trust her, if you don't trust the Undersiders, I can't make you trust them. It's as simple as that. You're still going through with this, and making the bugs. So long as you're comfortable with your motivations in the matter, I'm good with this.

And the bugs?

If you change your mind, you can always make more that can breed and eat – though I'd advise you to put the breeding function solely under Taylor's control. We don't want them escaping into the wild.

His reassurances steadied her. That's a good idea. She took a deep breath. Okay then. She began altering the hornets; it was only a small modification, and she finished with each one in seconds.

"What do they do?" asked Skitter quietly, and Amy jumped; the dark-clad girl had moved up right alongside her.

Amy explained briefly. "You can use them for -"

"Oh, I get it," Skitter told her. "I definitely get it. Thanks – and thank him for me, too."

She stepped back, almost merging with the shadows; the bugs that Amy had finished with were taking wing and flying over to her, landing on her and disappearing.

Are they in her hair?

And a compartment down her back, yeah.

Ew. I don't know if I could stand that.

She was kind of grossed about it at first, but got used to it.

Amy considered that. She takes a lot of this in her stride, doesn't she?

She's got what some would call a low-end power. She thinks a lot about how to leverage her ability. You just gave her some really, really good levers.

Am I going to regret this?

A lot less than you would have regretted certain other choices you're never going to make, now.

Amy let that slide; once she had finished with the hornets, she turned her attention to the beetles. Some of them she took apart with her power and merged together into larger specimens; then she started modifying these as well. It was an interesting modification, one that she wasn't sure she would have thought of on her own.

She was only a few moments into it when Grue cleared his throat; the sound was a hollow echo, the skull-detail of his visor seeming to hover in midair. "Just waiting around like this is a bad idea. If Coil has external security, or even just cameras -"

"He doesn't," interrupted Tattletale. "Leave her be. What she's doing is going to increase our chances of success considerably."

"You mean we didn't have a good chance of success before?" asked Regent sharply.

"It was good," Tattletale told him. "Just not fantastic." Her phone rang; she answered it, turning away down the alley for a little privacy.

Amy paid little attention, working on creating more useful bugs out of the ones that Taylor was landing on her arms. Michael said little; she got the impression that he was watching the process in sheer aesthetic fascination.

Tattletale returned. "We don't have much time," she informed the group. "Coil's expecting me soon."

Amy's head came up. "What? Why?"

"He wants to ask me about Glory Girl's attack on his house, and subtly question me to find out if I know anything about it," was the candid reply. "After all," she added, apparently addressing the next statement to Vicky, "you and I did have a conversation of sorts in the bank, and I have been known to be persuasive, from time to time."

Vicky snorted. "Yeah, that'd happen."

"How much time do we have?" That was Skitter, standing motionless, almost invisible in the dimness. The greys and blacks of her costume blended with the shadows, almost as well as Grue's did; the only thing that spoiled it was the yellow lenses of her mask, which tended to catch the light. In a way, they were even creepier than Grue's skull visor.

"Couple minutes," Tattletale told her. "I didn't tell anyone because time wasn't of the essence. We were heading here, after all. But now it is. So I'm telling you."

Amy concentrated, working on converting bugs while she spoke. "So the plan's still roughly the same?"

"Roughly, yes," agreed Tattletale. "But now we've got a Glory Girl to hit things till they fall down." From the tone of her voice, Amy just knew she was grinning that irritating grin.

"Yeah, well, right now I'm considering getting some practice in." Vicky was already on edge; it didn't seem like it would take much to push her over the edge.

May I?

Feel free.

"Tattletale. Do us all a favour and don't irritate the Alexandria Junior." Amy heard her own voice, with much more of a snap than she usually put into it. Tattletale paused and looked around; she obviously knew that Amy wasn't the one speaking. "And Glory Girl, don't let her get up your nose. You agreed to do this. You're a hero; act like it. There's a twelve year old girl to rescue, after all."

Both girls looked at Amy, and shut up; Vicky stepped away from her aggressive stance and came to stand next to Amy.

"You're not normally like this, Ames," she murmured. "Was that you, or -"

"Amy's busy," Amy's mouth replied, just as quietly. "We do not need this distraction. Do your sister and yourself a favour and don't let Tattletale needle you. She does it for fun, you know."

"Do we really need to work with these people?" demanded Vicky in a low tone. "They're villains!"

"Yes, they are, and yes, we do, unless we want Coil to become nigh untouchable, with a drug-addicted schoolgirl at his mercy," Amy heard herself say. "Endbringer truce, remember?"

Vicky gave an aggravated sigh. "I wish you weren't so right."

"I'm in," announced Skitter suddenly.

"What?" asked Grue.

"I've found my way through the air vents. I'm getting my bugs inside right now." To Amy's ear, Skitter sounded very pleased with herself.

"Firearms are priority," Tattletale told her. "Security, how many men does he have?"

"About fifty," Amy's voice replied. "Grue, you're going to need to use your fog once we're in there. They've got powerful laser mounts on their rifles. Skitter, once the attack starts, kill Coil's computer. Shut it down totally. We can extract the hard drive and access it later."

"What – oh, self-destruct, right," Tattletale noted.

"Found his barracks. Found his men. Found him. Found his computer." Skitter paused. "Found the girl."

"What sort of shape is she in?" asked Vicky sharply.

Skitter paused again. "I don't think she's conscious."

"But alive?"

"Yeah, she's breathing."

"Where is Coil, and what's he doing?" asked Tattletale.

"At his computer," Skitter replied. "Looking at stuff. Talking on the phone. Don't know who, don't know what he's looking at. Bug senses are crap."

"Let's go," decided Tattletale.

Amy spoke up. "I haven't done all the bugs I need to do."

"Make 'em on the move," the blonde villain replied. "Much more of this and he's likely to try to get out of the base."

I'll walk you. You concentrate on bugs.

Okay.

Gives a whole new meaning to walking on autopilot, doesn't it?

Oh, ha ha.

<><>​

Moving quickly and quietly, they crossed the road and entered the construction site. At an almost soundless whistle from Bitch, the dogs – gradually reducing in size, now that she wasn't exerting her power on them – followed along behind. Still converting bugs, with more arriving every second, and the finished ones flying off again, Amy found that she didn't have to pay any attention to walking at all; true to his word, Michael was handling that side of things.

There was a fence surrounding the main area, composed of conjoined panels bolted together; a chain, held together with a padlock, secured two panels, one of which was obviously intended to act as a gate.

Well, that's helpful.

Lisa's got a key.

Without much surprise, Amy saw that this was true; in the stillness, even over the sound of their feet crunching on gravel, she heard the click as the lock opened, then the rattle of the chain being pulled through the opening in the 'gate' panel. Of course she does. She eyed the skeletal building above, what she could see of it against the night sky. I'm guessing that Coil owns this construction site.

Pretty sure you're right. Don't forget, he owns Fortress Constructions.

But they … they build Endbringer shelters.

Indeed they do.

They save lives!

And make him squillions of dollars in the process, let's not forget.

Oh. Yeah. There is that.

Nothing wrong with a bad guy doing something good if he can also pull in an obscene profit in the process. Anyway, how do you think he managed to pull off a Bond-villain base under Brockton Bay?

… he had his own construction company build it.

Bingo.

And used his powers to choose the right timeline to ensure that no-one knew about it.

Handy, yeah?

I'll bet.

They were all inside the construction site by now. Lisa draped the chain back through the 'gate', then led the way to where Amy was waiting alongside a hatch cover; it had some sort of warning label on it, that wasn't really readable in the dim light.

"You've been here before, haven't you?" asked Lisa.

Amy's shoulders shrugged. "Once. But that time I had a bulletproof vest on, and I was being escorted by a PRT guy. Plus, we had Canary, as well as Protectorate and Wards with us." She felt her head turn, as she looked at each of them. "We kicked the crap out of them that time, and hopefully the Travellers won't be in residence." She paused. "Just remember, once we've got Dinah and dealt with Coil, we pull out as fast as we can, and we call in the PRT. And while we're in there, we don't make any noise we absolutely don't have to."

"Because of the Case Fifty-Three in the vault, right?" Lisa's voice was chirpy. "You only gave us a few details before. Got any more?"

"Vault? Case Fifty-Three?" Vicky's voice was startled. "First I've heard of this."

Oh crap, we didn't fill her in, did we?

Nope.

Amy found herself switching her gaze between Tattletale and Vicky. "Like I said, her name is Noelle Meinhardt. She's roughly the size of an elephant or two, and she eats anything that comes near her. Literally; she can absorb anything organic into her body, and once you're touching her, you lose control of your body. You don't come loose unless someone really strong is pulling hard. If it comes to a contest between Amy's powers and hers, Noelle wins. Worse; if she eats something living – anything living – she can spit out a twisted clone of it, one with all its memories and a total hatred of everything it loved. Cloned parahumans also get a twisted version of their powers. So long as she has the parahuman inside her, she can keep spitting them out. If she gets loose, it's pretty damn close to an Endbringer attack. She's also highly regenerative. She survives being literally cut in half at one point."

"What kills her?" It was Tattletale. "Something does kill her, right?"

Amy felt her head nod. "Sundancer's mobile sun. Which is a problem, this time around."

"Why?" asked Regent lightly. "Travellers are villains, they probably need the cash. We pay her, she does it."

"Because she's one of them." Amy heard the grimness in her own voice. "Trickster is in love with her; he will violently oppose any plan to kill her. Even if she's running rampant at the time."

"Good to know." Grue's voice was an almost silent rumble. "Although you might have told us those other details before roping us into this little rescue mission."

He has a really good point there. Amy was somewhat shaken at the description that Michael had given. I don't want to go up against that. Especially as you say that my power is trumped by hers.

Given that our current plan to deal with her is 'let the PRT handle it' … yeah. Good idea. Though I still think the 'make Coil a good guy' concept has merit.

Ew. No. She paused. How do we know that her power beats mine, anyway?

Coil tried, in a timeline he dropped. Apparently it turned out badly.

… how do you know about that?

Same way I know about a lot of other things.

She waited, but he didn't enlighten her. Okay, fine. Be that way.

Thanks, I will.

I think Grue is waiting for an answer.

Oh, right.

She looked up at the tall teenage villain and felt her throat being cleared. "Because they don't really change matters … and because I wanted them to be fresh in your mind when we go in. Just in case." A glance at Skitter. "Have you got everyone marked yet?"

"Just about. I hope the bugs work as well as you say they do."

Amy felt a smile stretch her lips. "Heh. Yeah. They surely do." Her gaze turned to Vicky. "Having heard that … are you still sure you want to come with?"

"Like I said before, Ames," Vicky told her steadily, "if you're in this, I'm in this." She paused. "Quick question."

Amy's head nodded. "Shoot."

"This Noelle person. What happens if I hit her with something else? Like a piece of rebar, or something?"

Amy's shoulders shrugged. "You hit her. But she's got serious Brute ratings."

Vicky's teeth gleamed in a brief smile. "So do I. Thanks. I'm good."

"Good to hear," Tattletale remarked, "because it's time we moved in. Coil expects me in the next few minutes." Lifting the hatch cover with a grunt, she descended a set of steps. One by one they followed her; Grue, the last in, lowered the hatch to the 'closed' position once more.

Within the access tunnel, it was absolutely, utterly pitch black. She heard someone fumbling with something, and then there was a click and a beam of light splashed across the ceiling. Tattletale held a small flashlight; it wasn't that bright, but with her eyes adapted to the darkness, Amy felt that it was bright as daylight. Looking at each of them in turn, Tattletale gestured for quiet, then led the way down the tunnel.

What was it like, the last time you were here?

A lot darker. We were using night vision, and I didn't have a set of goggles.

I suppose this time we're expected. Or at least Lisa is.

Yup. Hoping that makes a difference.

You don't know?

Hey, making this up as I go along.

Yay.

<><>​

I need to find out what's going on.

With his current project still undergoing the process of addiction, Coil had to fall back on Tattletale. He currently had the timelines split; in one, he stayed in his base, while in the other, he left it and travelled to a safe-house. In both timelines, he called upon Tattletale to attend him.

His rule was to not indulge himself on his powered minions; they were hard to replace. However, in this particular circumstance, he really, desperately needed to get the truth; he was aware of Tattletale's attempted machinations against him, and so he had to find out if she was the one engineering this. If it was, he could find out the full plot and deal with it. If not … well, she was still very intuitive. Give her enough details of the encounter, and the chances were that she could work out the plot, and perhaps even point him toward the perpetrators.

And so, in his base, she would be treated with courtesy and respect. In the safe house, she would be treated … roughly. The answers would be compared, and used on both timelines to elicit farther answers from her. It was a technique that he had polished over time. Afterward, he would drop the safe-house line, so that she would never have been there.

Of course, it helped to have both questioning sessions going on at the same time, so he had timed his orders to Tattletale so that she arrived at both locations at the same time.

He leaned back in his computer chair and waited. It wouldn't be long before he got his answers.

One way or the other.

<><>​

Tell everyone, small room coming up. Everyone should hang back, so Tattletale can do her thing.

Okay. Amy cleared her throat as quietly as she could. "Small room coming up. Everyone stay back. Tattletale goes in."

Lisa's head turned toward her. "I was just about to say that. You have been here before."

"That's what he says," Amy replied, flushing slightly.

"Okay then. Grue?"

As Tattletale stepped into the room, Grue moved to the front of the group, billowing his darkness around them. Amy understood the idea; it was to prevent the camera seeing them via a chance movement of the flashlight. She just didn't enjoy being in the almost suffocating lack of light.

It's weird stuff. Generated by his power, it acts like gas. Breathable, but absorbs all EM radiation with perfect efficiency. Dulls sound, and old scents as well. And he can see through it, of course.

How do you know so much about it?

Not my first rodeo, remember?

Hmm. She wanted to push the issue further; there was something he was holding back, she was sure. But at that moment, she felt a movement as someone pushed past her. What was that?

That was Skitter. I'd say Grue and her are dealing with the mercenaries on base.

This part of the plan had been detailed already; as Grue could see through his own darkness, and Skitter could use her bugs to navigate, they would move through the base in a cloud of darkness and take down the mercenaries as they came to them. Mired in Grue's darkness, the mercenaries would be out of touch with one another and with Coil; they would neither see nor hear Grue and Skitter coming.

I suppose it's a little bit unfair.

It's a whole lot unfair. But do you know what they call someone who offers his opponent a fair fight when he doesn't have to?

A sportsman?

An idiot. His tone was hard. Coil doesn't deserve a fair fight. He never gave anyone else one. He shot his commanding officer in the back, once upon a time.

Wow, really?

Yeah.

How did that happen?

Well, this was back in two thousand one. Ellisburg. Remember that?

I read about it in school.

Okay then. Calvert was a junior officer in one of the squads that went into Ellisburg …

<><>​

At first, Coil wasn't sure what was happening. In both his base and the safe house, contact was lost with the guards manning the entrance. And then a swirl of blackness swept in, blotting out everything. He knew, then. There was only one person who could do that, and that person was nominally in his pay.

He had planned for this, of course. It was only sensible to make plans for the possibility of any of his parahuman minions turning against him. Unfortunately, those plans required that he be free and clear in the other timeline.

Drawing his pistol, he fired blindly into the fog, in the general direction of the entrance; his men, as well trained as they were, would also be firing into the darkness, hoping to catch the interlopers in a crossfire.

But his pistol refused to fire at all; investigating, he found that the hammer was frozen solid. No amount of force would allow it to travel back. He tried to work the slide; that, also, was locked solid.

Tossing the useless weapon aside, he turned back to the keyboard. He might not be able to see it, but he could certainly enter the destruct code for the base. There was a secret back way out of the safe house …

In the safe-house, he felt his way along the wall, pushed aside a panel, and stepped into a secret way out. The panel slid back into place; he found his sight clearing, and moved more quickly now. He would have to destroy the base; there was far too much in the way of incriminating evidence there. Pulling out his phone, he sent the destruct signal; as he paused beside the outer panel, he got the return signal that it had been carried out. He pushed aside the outer panel, and found himself face to face with a very large dog.

Something was wrong; the base should have been destroyed by now. That timeline was still active and running. He tried to re-enter the destruct code on the keyboard, but his arms and hands were heavy, floppy, unresponsive. As his other-timeline self was seized and shaken like a rag doll between merciless jaws, he realised with horror that this timeline might be the only viable one left.

Why hadn't the base blown up yet?

As his spinal vertebrae were crunched like so much popcorn between the jaws of the monstrous dog, he shut down the safe-house timeline and reverted to the base timeline. He wasn't quite sure what was going on, save perhaps that they were still dealing with his mercenaries. How they had fixed his pistol not to fire, he wasn't sure. Or disabled his arms, for that matter.

And then his arms wouldn't move at all; they felt almost glued to the arms of the computer chair. He tried to make them obey him, but there was no response, no matter how he strained. But then, ever so slowly, the darkness began to fade away.

His wrists, he saw, were fastened to the arms of the chair with zip-ties. With whatever had been done to him, he hadn't even felt it.

And then the darkness faded farther, and he saw them. The Undersiders; standing in a semi-circle, observing him dispassionately. With them … he wasn't sure. Teenage girls, definitely, wearing dark clothes. One shorter than the other. The shorter one holding Dinah by the hand.

And then he recognised the taller one as having smashed into his house, and everything clicked together.

"Well done," he stated in as congratulatory tone as he could manage. "I'm proud of you, Tattletale. How did you ever talk these two young heroes into helping you?"

<><>​

"I didn't," Tattletale told him cheerfully. "They came to me. Told us about Dinah."

Skitter stepped forward. "How could you?" she asked bitterly. "You used us."

Coil shrugged, as best he could. Apparently, his best wasn't great. "Villain, remember?" he pointed out. "I needed a diversion."

This was the truth, Amy judged. Tattletale would be calling him on it, otherwise.

"And talking about that," Coil went on, "did you delay the self-destruct or halt it, because if the former, we're all in danger here."

"Self-destruct?" asked Tattletale mockingly. "What self-destruct?"

Amy saw Coil turn his head; the cords leading to and from his computer had been severed. As he did so, several large bugs of what Michael called the 'cutter' type scuttled from under his desk and up Skitter's legs. Although she had to be aware of the creatures, she ignored them. At Michael's suggestion, she had built them with acid glands to better cut through whatever they were gnawing on.

Where did you get that idea from?

Well, last time around, it was your idea.

Oh. She felt oddly pleased.

"Well, then," Coil stated. "How did you disable my firearm? And what did you do to my arms?"

Grue stepped up to him then. "We're the ones asking questions," he rumbled. "And I've got a really simple one."

"So ask." Coil leaned back in the chair, apparently at ease.

Damn, he's a cool one.

Hell yes.

Grue leaned close. "We were told that you bought your powers. Who did you buy them from?"

Amy felt her eyes open wide. Oh shit -

Is it so bad?

Fucking yes.

Before either she or Michael could speak, however, another voice broke in.

"That is a question that you do not need to have answered." The voice was feminine, assured, and held no particular accent.

The group before Coil turned; a woman was standing there, where seconds before there had been nobody. Behind her, as a hint as to where she had come from, a portal in midair was just closing. She wore an immaculate business suit; her dark hair contrasted with her pale skin.

Despite being outnumbered six to one, she seemed not at all concerned by the odds stacked against her.

Oh shit oh shit oh shit.


End of Part Eleven

Part Twelve

 

[edale]

You pushed the Cauldron button... Shouldn't have done that.

 

[Firedon]

Ouch. Now he has to go through that talk again. Is what I initially suspected and I believe there'll actually be a fair bit of talking it out there, but the way the scene is set up makes me doubt that.

 

[Starfox5]

Good chapter. I like how the plans were executed - minimal repetition - and then that evil cliffhanger following Grue goofing up... nicely done!

 

[edale]

Let's just hope the "path to ending this threat to Cauldron's secrecy" doesn't start with "silence Amy Dallon" so that she doesn't have a chance to explain that she can help end Zion.

 

[Ack]

Let's just hope the "path to ending this threat to Cauldron's secrecy" doesn't start with "silence Amy Dallon" so that she doesn't have a chance to explain that she can help end Zion.

Click to shrink...

Contessa actually kills very few people. Horribly humiliates, yes. She might break arms and legs, yes. But killing she reserves for a last resort.

 

[seeing_octarine]

I am quite interested in how this is going to avoid a retread of Security!.

 

[Ack]

I am quite interested in how this is going to avoid a retread of Security!.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, me too

 

[solitare]

Yeah, me too

Click to shrink...

Coil drops the timeline and goes for the one where he doesn't provoke Grue, so no Contessa (or whatever was happening).

 

[evildice]

Yeah, me too

Click to shrink...

1/ Mike doesn't appear on Contessa's precog.

2/ Mike pilots Amy's body close, and Amy hits her with a knockout power.

3/ Amy de-ages Contessa to around 16.

4/ The Undersiders gain a new member ("Miss Fortuna").

 

[B.B. Rain]

Second the "Oh shit oh shit oh shit."

Mike's sharing headspace with Amy. That opens up a lot of direct leverage for Contessa and Cauldron if they decide to play hardball, as opposed to in Security!.

Even if they can't path him directly, they can use it on Amy, or on Vicky or others to manipulate Amy if her path is fuzzed by Mike's presence.

Actually, where did you get the idea that she can't use PtV on Mike? The impression I had in Security! was that it worked just fine on Mike, which was how she showed up to the mugging, and knew he'd follow through on his side of the negotiations, as well being someone with information worth negotiating for.

 

[evildice]

Actually, where did you get the idea that she can't use PtV on Mike?

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I made that up entirely.

It has nothing to do with this story's canon, so far as we know.

But it's possible, since Mike's presence is unexplained and might be unrelated to anything which shards can predict.

 

[edale]

Contessa actually kills very few people. Horribly humiliates, yes. She might break arms and legs, yes. But killing she reserves for a last resort.

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I seem to recall her being quite lethal (when she didn't have to be) when she caused Lung to Trigger (by trying to kill him by face-planting him into a LARGE pile of cocaine). Didn't Kenta's 'friends' who were with him when that happened die?

I always got the impression that Contessa was Cauldron's boogieman, killing anyone who got too close to their secrets...

 

[Ack]

Second the "Oh shit oh shit oh shit."

Mike's sharing headspace with Amy. That opens up a lot of direct leverage for Contessa and Cauldron if they decide to play hardball, as opposed to in Security!.

Even if they can't path him directly, they can use it on Amy, or on Vicky or others to manipulate Amy if her path is fuzzed by Mike's presence.

Actually, where did you get the idea that she can't use PtV on Mike? The impression I had in Security! was that it worked just fine on Mike, which was how she showed up to the mugging, and knew he'd follow through on his side of the negotiations, as well being someone with information worth negotiating for.

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In Security!, Contessa knew of Mike, and was directed to save him, but PtV could not divine the information that he had. However it knew that said information was hugely important. Also, that he'd give it out, if they played ball with him. (They didn't have to enjoy it, but it was the simplest and surest way to get what they needed). PtV also stopped short of telling Contesa anything but basic information about him.

In this situation ... We shall see.

 

[GladiusLucix]

PtV also stopped short of telling Contesa anything but basic information about him.

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Like how to get his cookies.

 

[Asheram]

In Security!, Contessa knew of Mike, and was directed to save him, but PtV could not divine the information that he had. However it knew that said information was hugely important.

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PtV: "Be a good girl now Fortuna and listen to the God Incarnate."

 

[Slayer Anderson]

PtV: "Be a good girl now Fortuna and listen to the God Incarnate."

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Actually, it'd be more interesting if PtV didn't work on Mike, not even acknowledging he exists. Contessa suddenly suspecting she might be dealing with a new master/stranger type Endbringer would probably have Contessa cursing up a storm too...

 

[edale]

I seem to recall her being quite lethal (when she didn't have to be) when she caused Lung to Trigger (by trying to kill him by face-planting him into a LARGE pile of cocaine). Didn't Kenta's 'friends' who were with him when that happened die?

I always got the impression that Contessa was Cauldron's boogieman, killing anyone who got too close to their secrets...

Click to shrink...

In following with your rule of having a cite when disagreeing with you:

"Go," Daiichi ordered.
Kenta was stronger than Ren, so he was the one to kick down the door. He moved aside to let fat Ren advance. He wasn't stupid, wasn't ignoring the possibility the foreigners had guns.
There was no gunfire. Instead, he could hear someone speaking in English, very calm.
"The woman is upset you did not take enough precautions," A man said, in Chinese. He sounded more alarmed than the English speaker.
Daiichi and Ren led the advance into the back room. Kenta followed, looking over Ren's shoulder to take in the scene.
There were five people in the room. Two were Chinese, sure enough. Businessmen, they seemed to be, kneeling on one side of a squat dining table that was neatly stacked with cash and 'bricks' of white powder in plastic wrap, as well as various dishes laid out with vegetables and meat. A Japanese man sat at one end of the table, hands folded in his lap, eyes wide.
But there were two more gaijin in the room, kneeling opposite the Chinese foreigners. A black woman in a white suit jacket and a knee-length dress, and a twenty-something woman with a European cast to her features, with dark hair and a black suit.
The black woman spoke, and the Japanese man translated it to Chinese. "The woman recommends we stand back. Her bodyguard will take care of the situation."
"The woman in front is a bodyguard," Kenta told Daiichi.
This was wrong. The two women were too confident.
Daiichi drew a gun and pointed it at the woman. Kenta felt his heart leap at the sight of the weapon.
Then Daiichi fired, a warning shot. Kenta flinched despite himself. He'd never heard a gunshot before. Loud.
The men were cowering, trying to hide beneath the table. The women hadn't even reacted.
"One bodyguard?" Daiichi asked, sneering. He made the first move. He flared a brilliant green, then jolted as a phantom replica of himself leaped forth.
The phantom Daiichi flew across the room like living lightning, a trail of neon green smoke in its wake.
The bodyguard was already moving, her hand on a plate. She turned it upside-down and threw it in a single motion, and it caught the air like a frisbee. It turned in mid-air and crashed into the real Daiichi's face.
He staggered, and the phantom he'd created dissipated a fraction of a second before reaching the bodyguard. She shut her eyes as the residual smoke carried past her.
Kenta stared. He'd never seen Daiichi's ability fail him like that.
Daiichi raised the gun, and the woman raised one knife from the table, turning it around so she held the blade, the metal handle extended. She held it out with one hand, pointing it at Daiichi's shoulder.
Daiichi fired, and the knife went flying. It ricocheted, spinning rapidly, striking the doorframe behind the bodyguard before flying over her head in a tall arc. She caught it in her other hand, resuming the exact same position as before, then shook her right hand for a second.
She said something, murmuring it in English. The knife, still held in front of her, had a dent on the end.
The black woman behind her said something else.
"What are they saying?" Daiichi asked.
"The woman in the suit just got permission to kill us," Hisoka said. "But the black one said not to spill any blood."
"We should run," Kenta said.
"You scared?" Daiichi asked. "We have muscle."
"So does she," Kenta retorted.
Daiichi only smirked.
Can't run, we're going to get hurt if we stay…
Ren rolled his shoulders, then inhaled.
Wind rushed out of the room, and small objects were drawn towards Ren. The intensity of the suction grew as the fat boy sucked in more and more air.
The bodyguard kicked one edge of the low table, and the wind caught it, helping it rise. Money, plates and the bricks of white powder slid to the floor, sliding and rolling towards Ren.
Daiichi opened fire again, indiscriminate, but she didn't even react. Her knife blocked one shot that was directed more at the black woman, flying out of her grip, and the bodyguard walked between the rest of the shots without even dodging. She seized a table leg in one hand. It would have been too heavy to lift, but Ren's suction was hauling it off the ground. Two bullets bit into the thick wood.
Daiichi unleashed his power, creating another ghostly replica of himself, incredibly fast, stronger than he was.
The woman kicked the table, and it spun through the air as it flew towards Ren, clipping the ghost. The phantom lost an arm and a chunk of its chest, got its bearings, then charged the bodyguard. The damage to its chest was too grave, and it crumpled into neon green dust a pace away from her.
Ren was struck by the moving table, hit with enough force that he stumbled backwards into Kenta, Hisoka, and the other mundane members of the group.
Ren blew, and the table went flying across the room. Kenta's heart sank as he saw the woman, crouching low to the ground. Her hand reached up to strike the flying table, altering its course as it flew towards the Chinese men. It came so close to hitting them that Kenta thought it would be like the cartoons, where someone was cut but didn't start bleeding until seconds had passed.
Except it hadn't hit them, and the woman was too close to the ground to really be affected by the wind.
"Suck!" Daiichi shouted.
"Don't!" Kenta said, though there was little point.
It was too late. Ren had stopped blowing, buying her a second to move. She stepped forward, closing the distance to the group. Daiichi created a third ghost, rushing towards her, but she avoided the first strike.
Ren started drawing air in once more. Daiichi's spirit opened with a flurry of attacks, moving twice as fast as she was, but failed to land a strike. The bodyguard took a step back and used the toe of her glossy black shoes to flick a brick of powder into the air. She threw it, and the suction only added to its velocity as it soared to Ren's right.
Daiichi's spirit was fast enough to avoid the brick, but Daiichi wasn't. It bounced off his head, and the ghost dissipated again. She kicked the table, and again, the suction caught it. It flew into Ren's shins, and he fell.
Thrice, both the ghost and Ren had been countered, almost casually.
Daiichi shouted, uncharacteristically angry. Uncharacteristic, maybe, because he'd never lost a fight before.
The others pushed forward from behind Kenta. Had they not just seen the fight? They really thought they'd accomplish something?
But the force of the others charging forward from behind started him moving forward, and he was driven to keep advancing by the vague, incoherent idea of what might happen to him if he, the largest, physically strongest member of Daiichi's group, turned coward.
He knew in an instant that it was a mistake. Daiichi's ghost, twice as fast and twice as strong as Daiichi himself, an expendable assailant, hadn't accomplished anything. Why would six or seven teenaged delinquents?
She tore through them, every movement precisely calculated to disable, to crush, blind, stun and stagger. They were driven to stumble into one another, their weapons knocked from their hands. She wasn't any faster than any of them, not a martial artist, though there was a degree of elegance to what she did. No movement wasted.
Her foot caught Kenta in the diaphragm. She planted one hand on the back of his head as he winced from the blow, then pushed him face first into the ground.
His teeth bit into a brick of powder, puncturing the plastic itself. Kenta tried to rise, but she stepped on the back of his head, driving him facefirst into the brick a second time, hard.
Someone else fell to the ground a short distance away. Kenta turned to look, simultaneously coughed, and loose powder exploded around his face, filling his eyes.
The powder caked his nose, thick in his mouth, to the point that he couldn't swallow.
Drugs weren't a 'big' thing in the East, even among gangs. He didn't know the particulars of any powder or substance. Only that they were bad, possibly lethal if too much was ingested. He tried to spit it out, but couldn't help but feel like he was swallowing more than he was removing. The weight of the woman bodyguard was on his head, holding him there, suffocating.
He felt the rush of it taking hold, intense and seemingly without a ceiling to top it off. His face in the dirt, in the dust, he was overwhelmed by the paradoxical sense of being like the king of the world.
That rush lasted too short a time. He could feel the rush building until it felt like his heart was going to burst or vibrate itself into pieces. He felt nauseous, as if he was going to throw up, but couldn't bring himself to.
Kenta's left arm started going numb. He knew what that meant.
With a cold feeling in his churning gut, he thought, I'm having a heart att–
He found himself out of his body. He was an observer, an outside agent, without body or mind. He couldn't think. He could only exist, as a part of some sequence of events.
Two entities, communicating in increasingly short bursts as they drew together. Two entities, each unfolding and folding through realities, through multiple worlds at the same time. Two entities, singing ideas through mediums he could barely comprehend. Through light and heat and space and half-lives and gravity.
And they were looking. Looking at a planet that was broad, more gas than solid. A world of perpetual storms. There were lifeforms in there, lifeforms in countless possible variations of that world. Bloated bags of gas that flowed through and in the storms, in kalleidoscopic patterns.
He could see what they were focusing on, see them examining those possible worlds, declaring something. Ownership here. Claim there. Territory elsewhere.
–ack.
Kenta's thoughts were confused as he felt the high seize him. Three things overwhelming him at once. The things he'd just seen, fleeing from his recollection. His own body, dying in a violent, incomprehensible way. The world beyond-
He blinked the dust out of his eyes, felt them burn, could only see shadows, could only hear the rush of blood in his ears.
The bodyguard had stepped away from him, freeing him to raise his head. She'd staggered, and was being supported by the black woman.
He turned away, flipping himself over. He could see the fat shape of Ren, on his hands and knees, Daiichi prone on the ground.
The bodyguard recovered faster. She found her stride quickly enough.
She kicked at Daiichi's throat, hard. Ren, she struck in the nose with one boot.
The black woman said something in English.
"S-she'll take the cost of the lost product out of the deal," the translator said in Chinese, his voice distant.
Kenta only lay there, his chest heaving. He felt stronger, could feel his heart returning to some form of equilibrium.
But he knew he couldn't win. He lay there, doing his best to emulate the dying, as the Chinese men collected both cash and drugs in a bag, handing them to the black woman.
She spoke, and the Japanese man translated it to, "She would like to discuss delivery of the product on the way out."
Kenta lay there long after the two women and the Chinese men had left. He wiped caked powder from his face, though the effects had receded, the tingling and the rush long since faded. Whatever had happened to him, the drugs did almost nothing, now.
He wiped his face with his shirt, then checked on his friends.
Daiichi, dead, suffocated, eyes bulging. Ren lay there, eyes rolled up into his skull, his nose rammed into his brain, though the blood hadn't leaked past the aperture of his nostrils.
Hisoka, suffocated on powder, as Kenta almost had. Arata, gasping for air he couldn't seem to pull into his lungs. Ryo's head had a dent in it, and his eyes were unfocused. Jirou's airway had been blocked, much as Daiichi's had. Both Takeo and Shuji lay dead with no apparent wounds.
All dead or dying, with no blood spilled. Technically.
Kenta waited, holding Arata's hand as the boy slowly died, then he straightened.
Idiots, he thought, with a degree of anger. It had been foolish to escalate the fight after seeing what the woman was capable of. He'd be more careful of who he fought in the future.

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I do believe this is the only point in canon where we see Contessa in boogieman mode, but the fact that she is known as Cauldron's boogieman says something about her.

 

[pepperjack]

1/ Mike doesn't appear on Contessa's precog.
2/ Mike pilots Amy's body close, and Amy hits her with a knockout power.
3/ Amy de-ages Contessa to around 16.
4/ The Undersiders gain a new member ("Miss Fortuna").

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[Ack]

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So. Wrong.

 

[seeing_octarine]

So. Wrong.

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Yeah, I know. Totally out of character. I mean, Contessa can't even PtV her way past Mike's hangups in that sort of situation!

 

[pepperjack]

PtV her way past Mike's hangups

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"How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Ephebophiliic Possession/Incest"?