Panacea Quest

[Xicree]

-[] "The real villains would be best. If we lose the Brain Box we might never get it back."

This option is basically "It's best not to get too dependent on it"? That doesn't really make sense as an argument. There's no point in having something if you never use it for fear of being reliant on it in the future.


-[] "I will talk with Cranial. Nilbog Secundus and Agnes Court Secunda are probably good ideas anyway."

This opens up ethical issues related to involuntary cloning and treating clones as tools (which we're already somewhat doing with Annie). I'm also not sure it would be any better than using Best Girl and Companion Cube.


[X] "Both ideas are terrible. We should do our best to track down whatever is causing this and put a stop to it before we try to replace the world ecosystem."

I like Xicree's reasoning for this. Nilbog and Agnes Court seem like the "replace existing ecosystem with eldritch abominations" option. Panacea, Best Girl, and Companion Cube seem like good options for actually finding and curing the problem.

I've noticed every other update I want to recommend we include Tattletale in our plans. I guess you only miss what you've got when it's gone :x


If this is a recent thing, could it be a new Endbringer? Given Simurgh was killed recently, it seems like a possibility. Granted, it doesn't fit their MO (periodic attacks on important locations normal capes can fight), but it may be a reaction to Eidolon testing out more esoteric powers and wanting more of an intellectual challenge.

Also, it kind of fits as a progression.
Behemoth -> Small-area high-intensity damage.
Leviathan -> Medium/large-area medium-intensity damage.
Simurgh -> Strategic-area medium-intensity damage at a global scale.
?Gaia? -> Global-scale low-intensity damage.

They start off concentrating damage in one area and spread it out further with each new Endbringer.
Something to think about.

Click to shrink...

I don't think Amy knows TT is alive still. Caldron never told her about her.

 

[mc2rpg]

[X] "Both ideas are terrible. We should do our best to track down whatever is causing this and put a stop to it before we try to replace the world ecosystem."

 

[Acaila]

I was unclear. The issue is that the clone might destroy the brain box, given they both have dangerous Master powers and will be close to the box.

Click to shrink...

My understanding of their powers is Nilbog can create random monsters with bullshit magic biology but he needs biomass to work from. In a sterile room he could... create monsters from himself? If we just keep him unconscious as much as possible with automated knockout stuff I don't see what he could do.
And all we've seen of Agnes Court is her changing microscopic lifeforms inside the people on her side. Maybe she could modify her bacteria to be acidic or something...?

Basically I'm not sure what they could do. Granted, you know more about their powers than I do being the writer, and no one's voted for this anyway so it won't matter, but that's my take on the vote.

I don't think Amy knows TT is alive still. Caldron never told her about her.

Click to shrink...

That's my point. It seems like every other vote Tattletale would make things better if she was sane and didn't hate us and we had access to her, and I'm just noticing how useful she would be. And being sad we have no idea what's going on with her.

 

[WyldCard4]

[X] "Both ideas are terrible. We should do our best to track down whatever is causing this and put a stop to it before we try to replace the world ecosystem."

Click to shrink...

Bonus Interlude: Sophie (2)
_________________________________________________________________________________________

You look into the mirror, examining your hair, your fingernails, your dress. You're wearing a dress for fuck's sake.

You breathe heavily. You have to stop this. What has happened to you? Just meeting a pretty girl, well, two pretty girls, and you're tamed? You feel an itch, a need to do something predatory.

"Sophie kitty, we're moving out in five minutes." Victoria says from outside the bathroom door. You swallow hard at the voice. So flirtatious.

Kitty? That's new. You shudder.

Did Amy do something more to you than she said she did? Some, um, domestication move? How would that even work? It can't be the aura. Amy can still be a real bitch and she's ten times as mindfucked by it as you.

You eye the toilet. Emma stopped you from throwing up, but she's gone now. It's not really dangerous, with Amy on the case. Still, it's pathetic, weak. You're not going to be some silly schoolgirl who throws up in the toilet anymore. You're Shadow Stalker.

You move, stripping and putting on your suit. You check the systems. So electronic, it's weird, how did Amy make such a good interface? She did get help from a tinker, or did it just come naturally? The weapons are in place, eight hundred darts stretched along the lower arms and back, dart launchers in the forearms arms and wings, stingers along your jaw, temples, and throat, lower chest, stomach, thighs and nose, the places that people tend to punch. Your wings carry the sprays and mists for close range fighting. Your wings aren't actually that efficient, they don't have to be in your shadow state, so they have quite a lot of weaponry to them. You lack the strength tentacles most of the Shepherds have, too much added weight for a normal fight. For truly critical situations you have an explosive launcher in each knee, allowing you to fuck someone up hard from the inside. Last, you have the arm blades, in case you just need to materialize a sword in someone's head.

You're so badass it turns you on. Amy's to thank for all of it.

Fuck it, you're not tame. Pink nails or not, you're still Shadow Stalker.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

"I've been thinking about body modification." Victoria says. She carries you, which is kind of humiliating, but she's a much faster flier.

"You're already cute, and didn't we already enhance ourselves?" You say. You don't like where Vick is going.

"Well, you're really beautiful, Sophie. More beautiful than me, to be honest." Victoria strokes down your arm, but you don't really feel it with the suit's armor.

"Cut out your body image crap. You're hot without your fucking aura, Vick." You sight. This again. "I've felt you without it."

"No, not that. Amy'd freak if I changed anything she's obsessed over. She once spent an hour kissing my fingers." You sigh. "But I was thinking about making you cuter." So this is what you expected.

"Can you please cut out the dominance games? You win. You're in charge, and I date you and your sister. What more do you want?" You shake your head as Victoria lands down in the Boston parking lot.

"Well, honestly, wouldn't you like claws?" Victoria asks gently. "Nice, retractable things, doubling as stingers? You're lacking offense when unprepared. Also, I think cat eyes would look really cute. Sure, not too much functionality change with all we put in, but wouldn't they be cute?" You think for a moment. Dark, predatory, creature of the night.

"Not the word I'd use for it, but I like it." You admit. You notice Victoria's raising the aura higher than usual. She usually does this for meetings, but it feels like a bad sign.

"Wouldn't a tail complete the look?" Victoria asks. You shudder, and it's not with revulsion. It would. You think for a moment. A big cat, a panther. Stalking on all fours, clawed and fanged and beautiful. You want that.

"I'm not your fucking pet, Vick." She runs a hand down your back, moving in, possessive.

"Is that a no, Sophie?" You think.

"Is that it?" Damn she smells good. Your suit lets you smell her even through her own suit.

"I was thinking of some modifications to the joints, hands and feet. Nothing else quite so serious." She whispers. "Think about it, gorgeous. I think you want it. What's holding you back? Without it people will look at you and think you're just our girlfriend. Give yourself a bit more character, stand out a bit. There's nothing you can do by now to make yourself more controversial, so why not go all out?" The argument seems really persuasive to you, and entering the building to meet with Blasto prevents you from thinking up a defense.

"Hello, Glory Girl." Blasto gives a strange little bow to her.

"Hello, Blasto." You know Victoria's flashing a winning smile, but you don't look at it, instead using your senses to scan, detect for threats. Mason and Crystal had swept in ahead of you, and Julian is leading the new recruits to guarding the outside. Still, everyone should be on the lookout.

"I believe you came to me about my current issues?" He asks nervously.

"You can make clones. There's a clone arms race. You can make things with powers. Every villain, government, and miscellaneous wants to see if you can help them. Issue is you're a stupid scumbag who triggered over being a stupid scumbag, so you can't leverage yourself to anyone decent." Victoria explains. She lays everything on the table to be in a position of power. "If we hadn't saved you yesterday you'd be in China already. You're too criminal to let wander around the Toybox. You're not strong enough to fend for yourself. The Protectorate doesn't need you." For some reason you'd assumed that the tinkers you'd be rescuing would be a whole lot more sympathetic than this asshole, who you'd found passed out in a shipping container about to go to China.

"I'm not that evil." Blasto mutters.

"Second degree murder. Accidental deaths during felonies that contain the risk for them. Not premeditated, but still sick. It's the price of doing business, strict liability for people dying. I've got no problem with a life sentence and fifteen years before you come up for parole."

"I can be helpful." Blasto insists.

"Really?" Victoria smiles. You feel immensely sorry for the bastard. "Fact is, we've got you by the short and curly ball hairs. Explain why I shouldn't arrest you. The limiting factor of clone production is the brain scans, and Amy's really good at the cloning thing."

"Mass production." Blasto announces. Victoria smiles. "Uncontrolled creatures? I can give them controls, work in a control for Skitter. They won't be capes, they'll be better. Mass production. A horde of creatures half as good as capes, completely expendable, completely controllable, hooked into Skitter. Give me a proper lab and I could make hundreds of them. Throw them at the Endbringers just to give time to prepare and die so people don't. If anything they're better than clones for Endbringers. No ethical issues, no self preservation, just let them die to give defenders time."

"You're interesting." Victoria nods slowly. "Put you in with some good tinkers and Amy. If you can deliver..."

Then you get the message. Victoria's hood snaps over her face. Crystal and Mason ready.

"We're under attack, Blasto. Duplicator's rushing us." Blasto looks scared.

"The Teeth, Spree at least. He hates me."

"SS, Browbeat, head out and fight. Dream, with me." Victoria says. Crystal does one of her strange hops, moving across the room and landing next to her cousin in a second. You move into your shadow state and are out the door. Julian is positively a buzz saw, forcing the wave of clones back. Tallahassee guards him with a rapidly growing ghost that always looked more like a dragon than an alligator. Power Fist and Blueshift fight the mass of screaming, seemingly quite stupid and poorly armed clones. Blur is nowhere to be seen. Bauble and Red Lightning hold back next to Golem, who is raising a defensive wall around Eraser. Nubian Prince hangs above you, apparently waiting for something.

<Spree is a member of the Teeth. These guys are seriously fucked up.> Victoria communicates through your suit. <the clones suck, they're a distraction. Butcher is really strong, and if you kill him you become him, so don't kill him. Butcher has like thirteen weakened powers. You guys, hold the area, then get the hell out of there when I tell you to.>

You stay in your shadow form, moving quickly, looping, hoping to find the real targets. You hit Spree, the original, with a dart. He stops moving a few seconds later, and stops duplicating a few seconds after that. A wave of Sprees move towards you, and you spread your wings wide, hitting them with an incapacitating mist from your shadow state.

You really love your shadow state.

Maybe twenty guys in armor move forward, with another four capes standing together. You shrug, and hurl non-lethal weaponry at them. Two of the darts hit, one hits a force field of some kind, and a third goes past a teleporter.

You notice the normal fighters are slowing down. One of your fighters must have spread limited life cycle agents on them. You wonder what the goal is. Going up against your team?

You consider the force field user. He should go down soon, unless he has annoying secondary powers, if the foot soldiers are going down.

The other cape, long necked, some weird samurai style armor, and some real looking skulls, emerges next to Julian. He looks terrified, and Tallahassee's spirit hits the woman hard. Julian is hit be a line of red lightning and runs. So this is Butcher.

You only see two enemy capes left. One is fighting Mason. You can probably do more there. You aim carefully and unleash one of your darts. It returns to a normal state somewhere in his heart. Ick, this could be bad. He thrashes and screams.

Huh. He might be number four. If Butcher is really this bad...

Butcher points a really scary looking gun at the rest of the team. It doesn't fire. You briefly wonder why, and shrug. You try throwing another dart at her, but she teleports again before it hits. Some kind of combat precog and teleportation mix? That's one of the power combinations you usually heard in relation to "call the Triumvirate" as a Ward.

<Retreat.> Victoria's voice tells you. A moment later Red Lightning blasts all of the friendlies, and Blur swoops down to grab Red Lightning. You fly at a terrific speed. When dealing with some capes you just have to run.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

You're never sure what to make of making out with Victoria. It's great, but it honestly doesn't feel like making out. It feels a bit like when Steven took you to church and everyone sang together. It's like you're part of something greater than yourself.

Victoria's lips are like Heaven. Amy's lips are like Amy.

"You did great today." Victoria assures you. "You fought exactly how you should. Stayed back, hunted for weak targets, and sniped. People probably would have died without you."

"Thank you." You say. "Just wish I could have gotten Butcher." You shrug. "Or, you know, actually captured them instead of leaving them guarded by a super cape who could defend them until they woke up and ran."

"Everyone lived, and the Teeth got their asses kicked." Victoria assures you before kissing your neck. "We also got Blasto, and worst case he's a lying fucker who gets sent to the Birdcage, best case we get an army of cannon fodder. Today's a win."

"Yeah." You agree. You can't help but wish you'd really won. If you'd taken down Butcher, well, maybe you'd feel like you earned your place on the team.

It is hard to measure up to the girl who killed Jack Slash.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

End Interlude
_______________________________________________________________________________________

Four days of investigation and no luck so far.

Victoria calls you every hour most of the time, checking in. It makes it much easier to be without her. She's apparently having a wonderful time without you. You just sulk and help with science.

"Ames." Victoria sounds worried. "I want to ask you about something, um, dangerous. I'm only doing it with your permission."

"What?" You ask.

"The Teeth, they were there in Brockton Bay's bad old days, Butcher's a serious issue. One of the real old villains. The Teeth, they're crazy monstrous bastards. I kind of want to do a full war with them." You think.

"If they're that serious..."

"I've fought really serious guys before, and the Protectorate isn't moving until they're reinforced. If we could save lives..."

"They won't help you?" You ask.

"Nope." Victoria sighs. "They're afraid of Butcher."

"Shouldn't they be?" You ask. "What exactly is your counter to Butcher?"

"Mason made something that could make her sleep forever without killing her." Victoria pauses. "We think."

"So, you want my permission to go to war against a gang of serial killers?" You ask.

"Do I have it?" Victoria sounds sad.

[X] "Make me proud." If they kill anyone before the Protectorate makes their move...

[X] "No." Victoria's too important to risk.

[X] "Wait. You can catch them later, be part of that, but only when the Protectorate will be part of it."

 

[Xicree]

[X] "Make me proud." If they kill anyone before the Protectorate makes their move...

 

[Acaila]

[X] "Make me proud." If they kill anyone before the Protectorate makes their move...

Pretty sure this will end with someone killing Butcher, but what the hell.

 

[DeAnno]

[X] "Make me proud." If they kill anyone before the Protectorate makes their move...

A nice clear decision where we do what Victoria says. If someone does get Butcherized we may even be able to fix it with Cranial ("It's all fun and games until someone inherits Butcher.")

 

[Biigoh]

[X] "Make me proud." If they kill anyone before the Protectorate makes their move...

 

[serra2]

[X] "Make me proud." If they kill anyone before the Protectorate makes their move...

 

[Lement]

Wait, what happened to fulfilling Toybox schedule? Places to go, people to see. Butcher is cool but impractical

[X] "Wait. You can catch them later, be part of that, but only when the Protectorate will be part of it."

@DeAnno: What makes you think Cranial might be able to fix Buther problem? If anything, to me Amy seems more likely, given that she has displayed knack for finding parahuman broadcast wavelengths(though I doubt anything less than cutting off from the shard entirely would suffice).

 

[WyldCard4]

[X] "Make me proud." If they kill anyone before the Protectorate makes their move...

Click to shrink...

Bonus Interlude: Victoria (2)
_________________________________________________________________________________________

You're scared. You watch Sophie sleep contentedly, and let your worry gnaw at you.

Amy's happy. You think you've finally got Amy happy. She's pregnant (if she miscarries you'll be back to square one), rich, has you, has a girlfriend, is famous, is loved, is respected, is important.

Yep, that's probably all Amy wants. Everything.

Right?

You shudder. What is she going to need next? Switch from bottom to top, want to give you a bun in the oven, force another breakup with Dean, kill Carol, conquer a country?

She always seems to find a way to need more. You're just waiting for the next shoe to drop. You repeat the safe words in your head. Abdicate, amicable, capitulate, jubilation, nonchalant, perfidious, reconciliation.

They aren't enough. Such a thin line, so hard to use. Memorized, but only for her consent or your terror.

Amy would understand if you just need them a bit more, wouldn't she? It's not like any make her sad, or miserable.

You move gently, back into the bathroom, and stay on the toilet for a very long time, your stomach feeling sick again. It does that so much when Amy's not there. You keep wondering how she is doing. Did she decide to age Annie up and make her into a new girlfriend? Start donating your sperm to charity? Go back to Cauldron? Why did you even go on this stupid trip? You need to be watching Amy. You can't let her kill herself by inches anymore. What if she starts doing it again?

You just want to be a good sister.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

You think as you look over Sophie. She is sleeping soundly. What could be changed to make her more fun for Amy? Amy needs to change things, experiment. She said so. She'll do it to you if you don't give her an outlet. Sophie doesn't seem to mind. You wonder about a tail. Lesbians typically adopt cats, right? Sophie would be good if she was more cat like. You wonder about ears, but decide the face should stay the same. You can't be too blatant, especially for public appearances.

Thank God you kind of hated Sophia. The bullying bitch was practically a sociopath. You can't feel too bad about giving her this fate, especially as she'll enjoy it a fuck load more than you.

"Sophie kitty, time to wake up." You nudge Sophie awake. In your opinion Sophie is a vast improvement on Sophia. If she can stay nice and cuddly you don't have any problem keeping her around. Control words and safe words would be nice, of course.

Abdicate, amicable, capitulate, jubilation, nonchalant, perfidious, reconciliation.

"Vick?" Sophie asks sleepily.

"Wakey wakey, Sophie." You nuzzle her. "We've got a big day. Time to capture Butcher."

"Oh, right. But it's so pleasant in here." Sophie says sleepily. It should be, with the amount of your aura you're hitting her with. You always enjoy going a bit overboard with it on Sophie. It makes her much more fun to be around. Kind of like Dean for the first couple weeks before he told you to cut it out. Sophie hasn't told you to cut it out yet, so you take it as a sign she enjoys it.

"It is." You kiss Sophie on the forehead. "Time to go out and fight evil."

"Ooh, fighting evil." Sophie says. "Yes, let's do that."

_______________________________________________________________________________________

You survey the map. You've identified the current base of the Teeth with the help of Blasto.

The plan is fairly simple. Harrier heads in, spreads the knockout organism, and signals when that's as done as possible. You, Ta-Nehisi (Nubian Prince) and Crystal will circle above, striking at anyone who tries to leave the base. Mason, Ana and Sophie will go after Butcher, Theo and Tavi (Tallahassee) will act as Shakers to control Butcher's movement. Ryan (Blur) and Johann (Red Lightning) will get anyone in danger out of the way. Bauble (you can't remember her real name), Julian, and Michael are staying out of this fight due to general lethality.

You feel the familiar rise of panic. You'd expanded too much. You have too many fighters to manage. You should never have recruited so much. You have fifteen capes under your command and you can barely vote. This is insane. You wish, again, you'd just joined the Protectorate, but Amy sounded so sad and scared. You couldn't do that to her, so you went too far in the other direction. You usually do.

You look up, not a trace of worry on your face.

"Butcher can only teleport around 20 or 30 feet, depending on circumstances, and we can all survive the explosion. You're all armed with weapons that can incapacitate her. She won't go down fast to the sleep organism, but she will weaken from it, and the paralytic will eventually take her down. We just need to hold on for five or ten minutes and hurt her as much as we can without killing her. You all have the extra life, and you are all very well protected. I would estimate my sister can make a Brute 4." Brute 4 is just you taking Aegis's Brute rating and slapping on another number. You have no idea what your actual ratings are. "We cannot die, thanks to the Toybox. If you kill Butcher by accident, or are forced to do it to save another life, you will be automatically be treated as dead by your extra life. You will be preserved, frozen, while Cranial and Panacea work on you, and you will be healed. We are going to win this. We only have one cape to defeat, and Butcher is no member of the Triumvirate. Butcher has survived this long by running, hiding, and dying a lot. We can win this. the Butcher dies on average every two years. We can capture Butcher. If we do it now, before the Teeth adapt, they will not get to survive into the new world. One source of misery and death will be defeated. We play smart, we stay safe, and we win. Got it?" The agreement is enthusiastic. The agreement is too enthusiastic. Your aura, damn it, you're never as good as you seem.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

You get a message to move from somewhere. You, Nubian Prince, and Laserdream circle high above the battlefield, waiting for anyone try and escape. No one does. A few minutes later Browbeat and Shadow Stalker head inside. You wait, stroke beam ready. Butcher probably won't die to a stroke, probably. All the different kinds of offense you can have...

Crystal is hit by Quarrel's power. Speared through the chest, her brain and vital organs sucked into a pocket dimension and suspended animation. Once again you thank God for the Toybox.

Suddenly, several blocks away, the same thing happens to Julian, then Bauble. Power Fist is fighting. Did Butcher move that quickly, avoiding the main combatants? This would be out of character for her. Unknown Mover or Stranger who is part of the Teeth, or new attacker? You send Ryan to investigate, not wanting to distract Power Fist at a crucial moment. You truly envy his speed sometimes, wonder why your powers aren't as strong as they could be.

<Looks like a robot. Decorated like one of the Teeth. Running from Michael, heading towards us. Immune to my attacks.> Ryan reports. You have to make a snap decision.

You smash in through the window, stroke power flaring, hitting everything that's not a member of your team. Butcher reels from the attack, not able to teleport far enough to dodge. You're much more worried about the other villains. What if they die? You'll have to get everyone here to a hospital as soon as possible. You pause, and send a request to the Protectorate, explaining the situation. Hostile cape about to attack, attempted to kill three of your capes, fighting two exceptionally dangerous capes has to justify risking these lives.

You feel sick about this. Moving from underneath your cape are the drones, roughly a hundred fliers, each attached to a brain in your cape, delivering stroke medication to everyone who you just hit. If you're really lucky...

Butcher starts trying attacks against you. Throwing knives, a pain effect, they hit too close together to work, and Browbeat is throwing the mist at her, keeping her from closing distance with you. Butcher is by nature a midrange fighter, the range that's easiest for you to raise defenses. Browbeat is stronger than Butcher, can she can't hurt him easily. Maybe if she had more movement options, more flexibility, but the Shakers and Amy's Shadow Stalker vastly limit those. It's hard for her to attack without taking damage.

Ta-Nehisi goes down, fired off into the same realm as the others. You're down four of your fourteen soldiers. If you didn't have the extra lives this would be a disaster.

If you didn't have the extra lives you'd never have launched this attack at all.

Then, the enemy walks in. Mannequin.

This makes a lot of sense. Amy's too secure, too well guarded, for him to get, so he'll try to do to her what Simurgh did to him.

Closed systems, life support. Could he have killed people through the extra life?

The stroke beam doesn't work, of course. You're down your two best Blasters, and Mason's your best shot at controlling Butcher.

Shadow Stalker lands in front of Mannequin and hits him with her EMP.

She hits you with her EMP, too. And Mason. Blueshift is spared, invulnerable at the time.

Mannequin doesn't go down. Instead, he hits her with something terribly electric. She doesn't actually go down, thanks to her suit's armor against electricity, instead materializing an arm blade in his chest. It doesn't work, either.

Mannequin won't go down if he's hit with a truck, but he might go down if you hit him. You fall down on him, screaming, feeling a gun rip your eye out, and punch him as your shield goes up, breaking into a small pile of squishy organs.

You turn and find Butcher standing atop Mason, incapacitated with her pain aura.

You hit her with the stroke, but you already did that. Nothing else really happens as Butcher cuts Mason's head off before quickly jabbing downward, smashing through secondary brains. It's not surprising, given her powers, that she knows how to destroy someone Amy enhanced.

You wish he'd backed himself up at Cranial's. So, you got someone killed because you were stupid.

Time to keep fighting.
______________________________________________________________________________________

You lost Mason. Six people died in a stroke beam that probably didn't beat Butcher. Members of the Teeth, to be fair.

Two bad calls.

You need Amy's voice. You need it bad.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

End Interlude

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Victoria cries on the phone for hours.

Investigation of poor decision making and inappropriate, indiscriminate force. Lawsuits. Victoria lead to seven deaths of people who weren't on kill orders, including one of your heroes.

Victoria arrives home the next day, crying, a shocked looking Sophie following her.

You tell her it's alright. Butcher was a monster, and so was Mannequin. Accidents happen, and so do bad calls.

It takes a long time for Victoria to stop crying.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

"I love you, Ames." Victoria whispers. "I love you so much. More than I can fucking stand, sometimes. I was gone too long."

"You were gone for less than a week." You giggle, and you regret giggling. She's not ready for giggling.

"I missed you." Victoria whispers. "Can I ask you something?"

"What is it?" You ask.

"We, well, we put in other things, when Cranial did her shit. You know about them." Victoria sighs. "I want a week."

"A week of what?" You whisper.

"Just being normal. Not having to worry about this too, on top of everything else. Just forgetting we're a couple as well as sisters." Victoria sounds guilty, miserable.

"You want me to be asexual." You feel the dread, what you knew was coming for so long.

"Just for a week!" Victoria is quick. "Just some time! Just, let me deal with this, talk to the therapist, work this out. Please. It's hard, dealing with everything. I just want to catch my breath. Just for a little while. Never more than a week. Please?"

[X] "Yes." You whisper. She deserves it, and she needs it.

[X] "I can't." You tell her. It's too much.

[X] "Anything but that." You kiss Victoria. "Give me anything but loving you less, and I'll do it." You mean it.

 

[DeAnno]

[X] "Anything but that." You kiss Victoria. "Give me anything but loving you less, and I'll do it." You mean it.
-[X] "Why do you have to keep pushing and pulling and trying to break what we have? Can't we just be together without me constantly having to fight you to keep our relationship alive?"

Liar? Calm down.

 

[Biigoh]

[X]"Anythingbut that." You kiss Victoria. "Give me anything but loving you less, and I'll do it." You mean it.

 

[Xicree]

[X] "Anything but that." You kiss Victoria. "Give me anything but loving you less, and I'll do it." You mean it.
-[X] "Why do you have to keep pushing and pulling and trying to break what we have? Can't we just be together without me constantly having to fight you to keep our relationship alive?"
- - [X] But I can give you a week without touching... I won't change myself from a sexual being... but if you want then I can withhold.

 

[serra2]

[X] "Anything but that." You kiss Victoria. "Give me anything but loving you less, and I'll do it." You mean it.
-[X] "Why do you have to keep pushing and pulling and trying to break what we have? Can't we just be together without me constantly having to fight you to keep our relationship alive?"
- - [X] But I can give you a week without touching... I won't change myself from a sexual being... but if you want then I can withhold.

 

[Acaila]

[X] "Anything but that." You kiss Victoria. "Give me anything but loving you less, and I'll do it." You mean it.
-[X] But I can give you a week without touching... I won't change myself from a sexual being... but if you want then I can withhold.

 

[DeAnno]

Is that witholding line meant to be for Victoria or in general? As much as she's broken up about everything Sophie was involved in that clusterfuck too, and she's not going to be in the best shape to be given the cold shoulder for a week.

 

[serra2]

Is that witholding line meant to be for Victoria or in general? As much as she's broken up about everything Sophie was involved in that clusterfuck too, and she's not going to be in the best shape to be given the cold shoulder for a week.

Click to shrink...

We are responding to Victoria, so I imagine it would be for her

 

[Xicree]

I wrote it in meaning it for Victoria. So that we focus on Sophia.

 

[WyldCard4]

[X] "Anything but that." You kiss Victoria. "Give me anything but loving you less, and I'll do it." You mean it.

Click to shrink...

Victoria looks concerned for a moment.

"Anything?" She looks at your face closely.

"I love you, Victoria. I love loving you. I want to keep you happy."

"I want to believe it." There's a desperation in Victoria's voice.

"Why do you have to keep pushing and pulling and trying to break what we have? Can't we just be together without me constantly having to fight you to keep our relationship alive?" Victoria touches your cheek gently.

"I feel like I'm fighting so..." She struggles for a moment. "I don't know what I'm afraid of, but can't you feel I'm afraid? It's like I keep thinking you'll turn into a monster. I keep forgetting you're my sister. Not, well, not forgetting, just, it's like, imagine if every time you shook hands with someone, it looked like they had a knife there. You know it's not real, but you see it. You train yourself to ignore it, and one day you cut your hand on it. You tell yourself it's a fluke, that this was one crazy person, but then, a couple months later, it happens again. It's something that happens, not all the time, not most of the time, but repeatedly. You can never tell when someone has the knife, but you always feel like they do. Your right hand is so scarred and torn open, doesn't work right. Cutting your hand on the knife is a big deal, it's not just pain, it's lingering, ugly, foul."

"Do you see it now?" You ask. "Does it look like I'm holding a knife?"

"You're holding nails and spikes covered in rust, saw blades and hornets I can hear buzzing." Victoria raises your hand to her throat and licks it, fitting your fingers inside. You wait for her to be done.

"I don't want to hurt you. Can't you tell?" You ask. "You didn't cut yourself that time."

"It was the other hand, Ames." Victoria whispers. You're silent for a moment.

"Victoria, I only have one hand." You remind her gently.

"Well, that adds a whole new dimension to my crazy." Victoria smiles. "I don't want to be your crazy bipolar bitch of a sister."

"I'd cut my hand off to make you feel safer." You give her a sad smile.

"I think we can both tell that's not going to solve our problem." Victoria looks at your stump.

"I can give you a week without touching... I won't change myself from a sexual being... but if you want then I can withhold." Victoria laughs.

"That's not going to solve the problem either, Sis. As long as you want it, I'll give it. I'll let Sophie help, even. She's good at it. Something to lower stress..." Victoria trails off, her fingers dancing over your thigh.

"Anything." She loves you, so she won't ask for anything that would hurt you, or at least anything you can't take.

"I could dislocate your leg again." Victoria says playfully. "Play nurse for a week before we get it healed. Keep you in bed, cuddly and cozy."

"You can break my hand too." You grin. "Completely helpless. Keep my suit off the whole week. I can heal without a working hand, stay in the hospital as a good little healbot, and you can fly me home, put me into bed..."

"You could probably keep the suit on in the hospital." Victoria giggles. "You might need to do something handy, so you've got the tentacles. Maybe buy a nice little hover wheelchair?" You feel a rush of excitement.

"Wait, we're actually doing this, not joking?" You ask, having trouble breathing. "Like, for real?" This is, like, amazing. Fucked up more than fucked up could be fucked up.

"Wait, not joking?" There's an intent, hungry look on Victoria's face. "Actually do it? Like before your trigger when you were sick and oh Amy." She starts quivering. "Back when you were not miserable and I couldn't get why and realized it was me?"

"I love you and I trust you." You smile up at your glorious sister.

No one would ever say you two were particularly bright.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Mark and Sophie just stare.

"Um..." Mark opens and closes his mouth.

"On purpose!" Sophie shouts.

"We got caught up in the moment. Turns out it will all be healed in three weeks. Maybe six for the hand..."

"What. The. Fuck?" Sophie asks. "What. The. Holy. Fuck!?"

"We're consenting adults." You mutter.

"I literally just read the fucking case about this in that criminal justice textbook you made me read!" Sophie shouts at Victoria. "You actually can't consent to assault and battery because of crimes against the state and why?" Mark still makes mumbling noises.

"She was down." You point out. "She seemed really into it, and why not?"

"You might never be normal, physically, again without whatever black magic you can buy you stupid, selfish, athletes take injuries seriously because they're weaker so often after, God!" Sophie shakes her head. "Just, what?"

"My girlfriend, sister, and mother of my child." Victoria says firmly. "I got to make the decision. You want to be with her..."

"Claire!" Sophie suddenly shouts. "Is she alright?" Your blood runs cold.

"Yes..."

"You could have fucked her up with some internal bleeding nonsense over your BDSM game!" Sophie is livid. "And you didn't even ask me?"

"No, Sophie, I didn't. Sister versus girlfriend, live with it." Victoria snaps. Sophie crosses her arms, imposing despite her small size.

"That's nothing like being a sister. Like, Jesus, Vick! That's at least admitting you want to be her girlfriend. Nothing else fits with the creepy BDSM shit."

"That's a good thing." Victoria announces. "That's actually perfect. I want to be her girlfriend, too. It's just taking some time."

"Just, God!" Sophie walks out for the first time. You feel a pit in your stomach as you watch her go.

"Girls." Mark shakes his head.

"She's carrying my child. We're sleeping together. Our relationship is public. We're living independently. I'd think you'd be more upset about anything besides this." Victoria says.

"This feels more manageable." Mark smiles and you find yourself giggling, though it might have more to do with trying to figure out pain blocking microbes that your body doesn't reject. They need to be harsh and physical, and keep having slightly odd side effects.

"Well..." Victoria strokes your hair gently. "I'm still really looking forward to this. I get to go into full on big sister mode." Victoria leans down. "And that'll be even more fun now." Mark sighs.

"Well, if you two are happy, continue." Mark is silent for a moment. "You are happy, smart, beautiful, accomplished girls. I have a lot to be proud of. I have a lot to be grateful for."

"Thank you." You smile. Without a working hand you're kind of limited in how to express yourself outside of your face.

"Thank you, Dad." Victoria sweeps him into a hug. "Do, um, anything else?"

"I feel I should make pancakes." Mark says.

"It's noon." Victoria points out.

"And why, exactly, should social conventions stop a Dallon? I need to follow your standard." Mark announces. He has the world's best point.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

"Come on..." Victoria asks, playing her fingers up and down your stomach. "It wouldn't be hard, would it?"

"Um, we'd need a real lock smith or something." You mutter. "It seems kind of, um, wasteful. And we'd need a whole non-biological door."

"We deserve to have some fun." Victoria smiles. "And Annie would help is there was an accident. It's just locking you in the bedroom. It's not even bondage. I just, um, like the idea of you being nice and safe waiting for me."

Honestly, this kind of interest, actually wanting something a bit sexual, is a dream come true. It's a bit scary, but she's Victoria.

"If we were anyone else this would raise some serious abuse alarms." You laugh. "But if this makes you happy, well..."

"Just tell me if there's a reason not to have you locked up nice and tight." Victoria decides to lick your ear."

"It'll have to be a good one." You mutter.

"You're so good lately, Amy." Victoria sighs contentedly. "I love you like this."

"I love being like this." You assure her. You don't feel the least cooped up despite not being able to walk yet.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

"Huh." Clicker One stares at you. He's been helping you with tracking down the strange bio-weapons reducing Earth's ecosystem to mush.

"I'm an adult." You mutter, blushing.

"I've thirteen, and most adults aren't like that." Clicker frowns seriously. "Okay, many want to be, but not many are. You're weird."

"Had to be a kid thinker." You sigh.

"They had spares." Clicker sighs. Then he smiles. "Honestly, it's really cool."

"Yeah." You grin. "It is.

Once again, no luck narrowing down whatever is causing the plagues. The agents are mostly bacteria and viruses. They seem to be unconnected to each other, though typically related to ones that infect humans, despite none of them having even a remote effect on human cells. The points of origin seem to largely be in the American North East, stretching from Brockton Bay to Chicago, and then showing up again from Portland to British Columbia.

"So, any ideas, one who gets ideas?" You ask.

"Birdcage." Clicker says. "Someone tried to get to the Birdcage. Not a real transport, someone definitely flew or something for a while. They left a trail, and can activate whatever they left on the trail.

"Huh." You shrug. "So, what should we do?"

"I'd probably suggest we sterilize the whole area. Evacuate the people, kill everything that's living there, and release some massive counter-agent to bacteria and viruses."

"That would cost so much it's not funny, and make remaining spots that much more vulnerable to the Endbringers." You sigh. "But maybe you're right. Any other suggestions?"

"Go on TV and give up." Clicker suggests. "Say that you want to negotiate with whoever it is, be honest about the options you have, and explain how much you're willing to do to not have to deal with this."

"I'll talk to Alexandria about that." You agree.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Sophie returns looking sheepish.

"I was, um, it felt like she hurt you." Sophie mutters. She moves in, and Victoria stops her.

"A corrective breakup. I like it." Victoria smiles. "I'm actually sorry you didn't stick it through."

"I was lonely." Sophie admits.

"Now, here's the deal. I am Victoria. You're getting your body mods now. You will call me Victoria. You are not allowed to help Amy unless I ask you to."

"Deal." Sophie agrees.

"Body mods?" You smile.

"Up, onto the bed." Victoria tells Sophie. She climbs up. "We had a few adjustments in mind..."

It's fun, changing Sophie. She's positively stunning when you're done. You feel like she's a work of art. She hugs you.

"I don't react well to feeling like crap. It wasn't you two." Sophia moves to your other side, pressing her body up against yours while Victoria lies down on the other side. "I want to hear a story."

"I feel better when I tell them." Victoria says. "Sophie, I have nothing to forgive you for. You had a good idea in the fight, and it was the right call to make." Victoria cracks open a book. "Slipped into my first metamorphosis so quietly that no one noticed..."

_______________________________________________________________________________________

You wake up with a headache. You rarely get them.

"Amy? I'm sick. Tune me up." Victoria's voice is raspy. You do so, pressing your cheek to her cheek. "That's better." You hadn't noticed anything earlier. You experimentally move your cheek to Sophie. Same bug, you kill it before she wakes up.

Suddenly, you get nervous.

"Victoria, call, um, just call people, see if they're sick, okay?" You ask. She pulls out her phone and does so, waking up an annoyed Sophie in the process.

Ryan and Ana, Crystal, Mark, and Dean are sick. Victoria gets increasingly worried, calling everyone.

"It's just colds." Victoria says. "Everything's going to be fine."

"It's moved to us." You whisper. "The thing that's been killing the fish, the trees, the algae, it's targeting us."

"Shit." Sophie says.

[X] "We're moving to a pocket dimension, Dodge made, now. Self contained systems, I can make them. If you two can get sick, if I can get sick, if it moves too fast..." You can't even think about it.

[X] "We're heading to the hospital now. Call Cranial, tell her to meet us there. We need to make a countermeasure, now."

[X] "We need to evacuate. Whatever is going on, it could end the world, fast. We need to get as many people away from this as possible."

 

[DeAnno]

[X] "We're heading to the hospital now. Call Cranial, tell her to meet us there. We need to make a countermeasure, now."

I don't like isolating ourselves and hoping things will go well. I also don't think we can outrun this.

Also Victoria, that wasn't exactly a mean thing to do, but it was pretty dumb. Bad top.

 

[serra2]

[X] "We're heading to the hospital now. Call Cranial, tell her to meet us there. We need to make a countermeasure, now."
-[X] Talk Sophie into getting some Cat Ears to go with the rest of the mods, while we are doing that.

 

[Xicree]

[X] "We're heading to the hospital now. Call Cranial, tell her to meet us there. We need to make a countermeasure, now."

 

[Acaila]

[X] "We're heading to the hospital now. Call Cranial, tell her to meet us there. We need to make a countermeasure, now."

I don't get Victoria wanting to break Amy's limbs at all, but whatever. It just seems like a really stupid thing to do for me, especially if it effects mobility and thus potentially Amy's safety.

 

[WyldCard4]

I don't get Victoria wanting to break Amy's limbs at all, but whatever. It just seems like a really stupid thing to do for me, especially if it effects mobility and thus potentially Amy's safety.

Click to shrink...

Oh, it's an amazingly stupid thing to do. Basically, their crazy intersected when both of them were feeling vulnerable, so they convinced themselves stupidity was romantic.

 

[Ack]

I'm curious. How did Vicky get Jack Slash?

 

[serra2]

I'm curious. How did Vicky get Jack Slash?

Click to shrink...

He had really shitty luck in the location, and even then Victoria nearly bought it, if we were not in the general vicinity she would have died. Even then he managed to pull a nasty Hannibal Lecture on her off-screen that fucked her up something fierce. All this latest stuff with over-controlling Victoria pretty much goes back to that moment.

 

[WyldCard4]

He had really shitty luck in the location, and even then Victoria nearly bought it, if we were not in the general vicinity she would have died. Even then he managed to pull a nasty Hannibal Lecture on her off-screen that fucked her up something fierce. All this latest stuff with over-controlling Victoria pretty much goes back to that moment.

Click to shrink...

Note, in addition to all of that, he almost killed Amy as well, fought two capes who partially countered his power, had lost both Bonesaw and Siberian, and had almost no backup (Murder Rat) because the surviving members of the Nine were causing a distraction.

He still would have killed Panacea if not for another healer finding her just in time.

That's on top of running afoul of a Contessa path to getting Shatterbird and Siberian which worked flawlessly.

 

[WyldCard4]

I've honestly decided not to update PQ today. The last couple updates have been too harsh. I think I need to make sure I'm in a mood for not doing something horrible.

I'm feeling much better, but after killing Mason and having Victoria dislocate Amy's hip? Better safe than sorry. The last couple updates, if not shitdark, were too dark and thematically troubling. I'm not going to retcon anything, but I went too far.

 

[Lement]

Mason who? Don't worry, already forgotten

Wow, that went kind of badly though, but I expect Sophia to be hit worse by it - they had somewhat more interesting exchanges. Though it is Victoria who has to face his parents. But with Mannequin in play, worth the sacrifice - his power wasn't anything overly special.

And, haha, I certainly did see Victoria asking something debiliating from Amy. Not this, though - Amy now will ask Victoria for even more!


Anyway, running won't help. We've already caught it. And even if it is going to be just a cold bug that is supposed to prepare, if we don't we'll come back to wasteland.
[X] "We're heading to the hospital now. Call Cranial, tell her to meet us there. We need to make a countermeasure, now."
-[X] Use the lull to make backup body for you and store it in the pocket dimension. In case you die, Cranial can download you into the backup.

Evacuation sounds nice but it doesn't seem to be very feasible. Maybe if we already had a moon base or something.