Safe For Work Worm Ideas thread

[Prince Charon]

AU Brockton Bay has a few odd nicknames, like Tinker Town, or The City of One Million Futures. This is because about 90% of local triggers are Tinkers, and this concentration tends to draw other Tinkers there, for safety, like Tattletale (information analysis is her theme), or Regent (has a neurological theme - which oddly enough fits with his canon shock-sceptre; it'll just be more advanced, and possibly multi-functional).

There's no Ship Graveyard, or a much smaller one, because the ships all got broken up for materials, and there are probably a couple of ferries, as well as other bits of eccentric infrastructure - though not all of it works all the time, because the Tinkers get distracted, and occasionally die or move on, leaving their stuff to be maintained by other Tinkers, who usually don't understand it fully. When it malfunctions, the errors can get pretty weird, too. OTOH, BB Tinkers also tend to be better than average at figuring out other Tinkers' work, if only due to experience.

Local capes who aren't Tinkers are often valued, though not necessarily in a way they'd like: Most people would be unnerved by some weirdo in a labcoat asking 'Wanna be a guinea-pig for my experiments?' (They don't all do that, or even most, but enough do to get a reputation.)

Whether Taylor is a Tinker, or has her canon powerset, or something other than either could perhaps be a mystery at first, if it's not written from her PoV.

 

[The_Watcher]

While in The Locker Taylyor does not see the space whales. Instead she sees a rather terrifying man wearing a red overcoat and red fedora. He's sitting on what appears to be a throne, drinking a crimson liquid from a wine glass, and has only one thing to say:

"Amuse me."

She starts at newbie "I drink what!?!" lvl rather than his.

 

[Xilph]

So that made me think of something different from what you intended, instead of any of that Taylor has her "power" be a swanky sword that manifested, which was actually just their attempt to revive their user. The sword though? It's this sword.

So you have the story of Ghirahim in BB, as they try to both turn Taylor into Demise 2.0 while generally going around and being Ghirahim, in all his creepy perverted manner, just think of how much could happen. That's not even touching that Ghirahim could easily fit in as an S9 member either, but hey, who doesn't want Taylor to be able to play the straight man to Ghirahim as Worm gets repeatedly pummeled by the antics of the most flamboyant demon lord.

 

[sunspark]

While in The Locker Taylyor does not see the space whales. Instead she sees a rather terrifying man wearing a red overcoat and red fedora. He's sitting on what appears to be a throne, drinking a crimson liquid from a wine glass, and has only one thing to say:

"Amuse me."

She starts at newbie "I drink what!?!" lvl rather than his.

Click to shrink...

Does Taylor have the same side effect that Seras does? (I'll stop here before I have to take it over to the NSFW side. )

Since quite a lot of Alucard's power comes from the souls of the people he's killed, her starting off less powerful makes a fair bit of sense. Going by what we see Seras do, she'd still end up as a mid level brute at least.

The thought occurs that a crossover with Castlevania by way of Soma Cruz could be interesting as well.

 

[SwiftRosenthal]

The thought occurs that a crossover with Castlevania by way of Soma Cruz could be interesting as well.

Click to shrink...

Every milliliter of parahuman's blood that touches her skin gives her a little bit of their power. If she ingests the blood, she gets a large part of their power for each milliliter. (It's copying, not stealing, so she can go above 100% strength for any power if she farms enough. If she kills a parahuman outright, she gets their entire power at once - but can't go above 100% for obvious reasons.) Meanwhile, monsters from the two Sorrow games are leaking out into Brockton Bay, the ocean, and the countryside. Killing those mobs gives Taylor their souls just like it does for Soma.

(Also, Amy and Camilla/Carmilla are the same person; New Wave may or may not be related to the Belmont clan; and the next total solar eclipse in North America is due in August 2017.)

 

[sunspark]

Every milliliter of parahuman's blood that touches her skin gives her a little bit of their power. If she ingests the blood, she gets a large part of their power for each milliliter. (It's copying, not stealing, so she can go above 100% strength for any power if she farms enough. If she kills a parahuman outright, she gets their entire power at once - but can't go above 100% for obvious reasons.) Meanwhile, monsters from the two Sorrow games are leaking out into Brockton Bay, the ocean, and the countryside. Killing those mobs gives Taylor their souls just like it does for Soma.

(Also, Amy and Camilla/Carmilla are the same person; New Wave may or may not be related to the Belmont clan; and the next total solar eclipse in North America is due in August 2017.)

Click to shrink...

This could start off in the locker, given that it was full of tampons. She could plausibly get powers from Shadow Stalker and Rune. However, it would be better, I think, if during one of the bullying sessions featuring Sophia had her injure herself accidentally. Taylor finds herself utterly fascinated by it, and ends up brushing up against it. (Heck, I may try writing this later this month.)

 

[Nekraa]

So that made me think of something different from what you intended, instead of any of that Taylor has her "power" be a swanky sword that manifested, which was actually just their attempt to revive their user. The sword though? It's this sword.

So you have the story of Ghirahim in BB, as they try to both turn Taylor into Demise 2.0 while generally going around and being Ghirahim, in all his creepy perverted manner, just think of how much could happen. That's not even touching that Ghirahim could easily fit in as an S9 member either, but hey, who doesn't want Taylor to be able to play the straight man to Ghirahim as Worm gets repeatedly pummeled by the antics of the most flamboyant demon lord.

Click to shrink...

... And now I want to play Skyward Sword just to see Ghirahim again. He's a great guy.

And Taylor as Demise 2.0 sounds interesting, but what would it mean?

 

[Xilph]

Yeah Ghirahim is interesting, why I said they'd kinda fit the S9 though, they go from talking about how happy and giggly they are one moment to how they'll torture you until you go deaf from your own screaming the next. As for the Demise 2.0 thing there are three paths, the lowest path is simply making about the attempts, Ghirahim tries to egg on and drive up her ambitions to taking over the world and it's more about Taylor's conflict with her "power" Ghirahim and her desire to be a hero, the second is he succeeds, you have Taylor embracing their power and trying to take over the world, LoZ style. Last is mixing things up, maybe Ghirahim decides to go with it and have her become an awesome hero to try and win over the world via goodness?

Hmm, you'd probably have to decide where on the spectrum you want things to go, from Taylor becoming a villain trying to take over the world (Kidnap Alexandria? Panacea?) to a hero trying the same tactics against villains (Kidnap Bonesaw?) to something more about character development with Ghirahim leading Taylor to domination while Taylor tries to become a hero, not like creating intelligent constructs doesn't have precedent if it's rare so you could pass it off as her power enough for people to believe it, particularly given the whole living sword thing.

 

[The_Watcher]

not like creating intelligent constructs doesn't have precedent if it's rare so you could pass it off as her power enough for people to believe it, particularly given the whole living sword thing.

Click to shrink...

Ya... Piggy would freak...
Still a good idea, hmmm.

 

[Xilph]

Eh, this is only a single one with them having no known way of making more so it's really not that bad, having a projection isn't that uncommon a power, even if one you use powers by and seems to have free will would be weird, maybe make them think more like Dauntless? Creating intelligent super weapons somehow.

Of course if she actually can learn Demise/Ganon's powers? Then she can probably figure out how to either create monsters or warp people into them, which will definitely get to Piggot.

 

[The_Watcher]

The monsters were what I was thinking of. Weapon idea could be done well on its own. Possibly along the lines of making things like " possessed daggers that guides your hands to creating soul edge and soul caliber.

Edit: were not where. Auto correction grr

 

[volantredx]

Part 1

So I figured that I should put the next part up here as well.

Prey No More 2​

1:00 am
Sophia Hess AKA: Shadow Stalker

As much as Sophia loved being a hero, it had its share of downsides. The one she'd call her least favorite was all the sitting around waiting for things to happen. Especially when she had to do her waiting on rooftops or in this case on a fire escape. She had to have been here for nearly five minutes and she still couldn't get comfortable. It used not to bother her, before, when Pavlov had her under sway. Getting fidgety would ruin the "bad ass vigilante" image the girl had tried to make her. Now with freedom came a certain need for comfort. On one hand Sophia loved it, it was a sign she was getting back to normal. A milestone of recovery, as Dr Walker would say. On the other hand though, it was nice not to be bothered by how cold the metal was on her butt.

"Stalker," her radio crackled to life in her ear. "You in position?"

"Yeah, boss," she responded to Aegis. "You need back up?"

"Not quite, Rune managed to make a door for herself. Hornet is herding her towards you get ready."

"Roger that," she said while standing and getting ready to jump. In moments she could make out a figure in the dim light of the alleyway, riding what appeared to be most of an old dumpster. It was Rune and she seemed to be trying to outrun a rather determined swarm of bees. That'd be Taylor, or Hornet as she was known to the world. It was amazing for someone so new to this sort of thing, Taylor was a quick learner. The swarm managed to cut off any sort of exit, and kept Rune from being able to gain any air, by having the bees be thickest higher up. It was a smart play.

'For a weak little loser,' a voice whispered in her head. Sophia ignored it. It had long stopped sounding like her own thoughts, and now it was easy to hear the words in the voice of Pavlov. Trying to control her, mold her into what she used to be. She tightened her grip around her crossbow. In moments Rune was right underneath her. Taking a deep breath she jumped, landing right beside Rune.

"The fuck?!?" The supervillain yelled.

"Hi there," Sophia said, before tackling them both off the dumpster. The two girls landed hard on the ground, Sophia went shadow at the last second, allowing her to recover faster. Clamoring to her feet she stood over the groaning Rune. Not willing to give her a chance to fight back the teen hero quickly aimed with her crossbow and fired a knock out dart into her chest.

"OW!" Rune yelped. "You lousy...little...spook...bitch." She muttered before passing out.

Sophia rolled her eyes at the insult. Ever since the E88 had learned she was black it was always "coon" this "nigger" that. She knew they were Nazis but they really needed to get new insults.

'You need to hurt her more,' Pavlov's voice whispered. 'Teach them not to mess with you.'

Closing her eyes and counting to ten she grabbed the zip ties from her belt and reached down to restrain the unconscious Rune. With her cape pulled back and her hood down it was hard to imagine that the girl was a violent criminal.

'Really cute too,' Sophia's eyes widened at the thought, that was all her. 'Ok ew Sophia, no crushing on the evil Nazi. No matter how nice a butt they have...Ok gonna need a cold shower after this little sting operation.'

"Sh-shadow Stalker here," Sophia radioed, her voice cracking. "I got Rune taken care of."

"Roger that," Aegis responded. "Hold your position until we send someone to pick her up."

"Right, can do."

XxXXxX

2:00 am
Taylor Hebert AKA: Hornet

Taylor could almost feel a spring in her step as she left the Ward's locker room. These last few weeks had almost felt like a dream to her. Since she had gotten powers it seemed like every shit thing in her life had turned around over night. She had friends, school had even become fun, and she was an honest to god Superhero. Even Sophia was a different person, almost literally. When she found out that Emma was the one responsible for making Sophia do all those terrible things, she almost didn't believe it. If she was being honest she didn't want to believe it. Even after all the things she put her through Taylor didn't want to think that her former friend would be capable of turning someone into a monster. That sort of control over someone, taking away their basic right to be their own person, that was something Taylor always saw as some distant evil, things that Heartbreaker or Jezebel did, not something someone she used to have sleepovers with would do. Now she supposed people would think of Emma in that group too, once her trial was over anyway.

She was pulled from her thoughts by Carlos's voice coming up from behind her. "Hey Taylor got a minute."

"Yeah," she said turning, Carlos was out of costume too, wearing only jeans and a tee-shirt, both of which were smaller than Taylor thought was fair. "What's up?"

"Well, uh, I was talking to Sophia a little bit, and she mentioned that you were in your school's reading club."

"Oh yeah, such as it is anyway." Winslow didn't exactly encourage a love of reading in its students.

"Cool, so I take it you like to read?" He paused as a blush formed on his cheeks. "What I mean is, I like poems and well there's this poetry reading event on Friday."

"You like poems?" Taylor asked, her own cheeks growing warm, she had a feeling where this was going. 'come on brain think of something good to say.'

"Oh yeah all types of poems, though a lot of Victorian era more than anything, they had a lot of really cool subjects, action, tragedy, bravery..."

"Love," she blurted out. 'Well fuck you too brain.'

"Uh, heh, yeah," Carlos mumbled rubbing the back of his neck with his hand. The effect this had on his bicep and the sleeve of his shirt suddenly made it hard for Taylor to think how to talk words good. "What, what I was trying to ask was if you would like to come with me since you're off on Friday too."

"Like a date?"

"Yeah, I mean don't feel like you hav-"

"I'd love to go," She said cutting him off.

"Great," he smiled. "It starts at 8, so I can pick you up at 6 and we can get a bite to eat first?"

"Sounds super," Taylor elected to ignore what she was saying in an effort to not die of embarrassment by Friday.

"Cool see you then."

"Yeah, see you," as Taylor watched Carlos walk away she really really hoped she wasn't about to hear her alarm clock.

XxXXxX

2:30 am
Emma Barnes AKA: Pavlov

It wasn't fair. That was the one thought that Emma had been thinking on repeat since this whole nightmare had started. She hadn't done anything wrong. Not really. Sure she used her powers on people, but that's why people got powers, to use them. It's not like she hurt anyone. She made sure daddy was a better parent, made sure Taylor knew her place, and best of all made sure that traitor Sophia was a better hero. She didn't deserve to be locked in some hole in the ground, having meals dropped down like she was some animal, having to go on trial by two way camera. She was better than this. She didn't even know what time it was. There weren't even any windows in this place.

She was so engrossed in her thoughts that it took her a full minute to realize that the meal light was going off. Walking over to the dumbwaiter hatch she slid it open. Instead of the horrible food she was expecting there was an old walkie talkie inside.

Curious she picked it up. As she was looking at it, there was a burst of static and a voice echoed in the little room.

"Good evening miss Barnes," the voice on the other end said. "I was hoping to talk to you before your trial was over."

"Who are you?" She asked.

"My name is Coil, I don't know if you ever heard of me. It's of little consequence if you have. Just know that I am a man of many resources, and as such would like to discuss your future."

"My future?"

"It's not a very bright one right now I'll admit. When you're found guilty the charges against you are quite grave. While not enough to put you in that monstrosity they call the Birdcage it will be more than enough to send you away fro a very very long time. I'd like to prevent that."

"Yeah?" Emma's tried not to sound to eager. Anything had to be better than this.

"Oh yes. All I need from you is an assurance of services, for a little while anyway."

Emma paused thinking. Whoever this Coil guy was he likely wasn't just a nice man trying to help an innocent girl avoid injustice. Saying yes meant joining with a supervillain, and becoming one herself. Still if it meant staying out of prison. "I'll do whatever you want."

"Excellent," he said happily. "Don't worry either, I'm not going to ask you to do anything too outrageous. Just think of it as...pet training."

XxXXxX

So I suddenly realized that despite having this written weeks ago I had totally forgotten to post it. Well here it is, part 2. Tell me what you think.

 

[Dreadis]

"Rodger

Click to shrink...

Roger

poems?

Click to shrink...

Taylor would probably say poetry

fro

Click to shrink...

For

 

[volantredx]

Taylor would probably say poetry

Click to shrink...

Taylor's brain is having to manage at half speed at the moment.

 

[LurkerGuy]

Part 1

Click to shrink...

Broken link, missing the domain name section.

 

[jcogginsa]

https://forum.questionablequesting.com/threads/aw-crap-worm-marvel-dc.2104/
it updated

 

[volantredx]

Broken link, missing the domain name section.

Click to shrink...

Thanks for the information. Should be fixed now.

 

[Xander Harris]

(Worm/League of Legends)
(this will be a snip i hope someone finds insperation from it)

(Taylor PoV)
The Mask... it all came back to the mask. When i awoke in the hospital it was just, there inocently and vaugely there like a ghost. I knew nobody else could see it mostly because it was on my bedside were they would set down my meals and the tray went through it.

At the time i didn't understand, it was my power i knew that mutch i could feel it and when i got home i found him, another part to my powers, a mask mutch like mine sat upon his face.

He explained who he was that he was my eternal companion, and this comforted me someone who would never betray me or look the other way. Then we talked he said until i put on the mask i wouldn't understand all of it but he explained as mutch as he could.

What he could, what i would be able to do if i put on the mask... he said it would change me and he didn't know if i could go back to the way i was if i did.

I asked for some time to think, and he fell silent. So i think, think of what i have to lose (never going back is a posibility,dad) and what i have to gain (ill be a hero, theres a chance i can go back to normal it works both ways).

I came to a conclusion, i would put on The Mask.

So i write this note i case i cant go back. I'm sorry dad goodbye.

Spoiler: kindred

 

[Prince Charon]

William Manton has a heart attack while driving to Brockton Bay. As far as the public are aware, some old guy died in a car accident on the highway, but now the S9 are heading toward Skitter without one of their most important members, and may not even realize for a while that she's not coming.

The only ones likely to know that they don't need to plan for the Siberian showing up are Coil's faction, because Dinah told them the probability was too low (there's a 0.000000312% chance that someone will fake the Siberian well enough that Dinah would never find out that this one was fake, perhaps).

Thoughts?

 

[volantredx]

Previous
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Sound Reasoning 2​

Flying was a strange feeling I decided. Part of it was the sense of being weightless, part of it was the speed of it, and a big part of it was the fact that for the first time in weeks she couldn't feel her power at work. This high up there weren't any bugs for my mind to latch on to. It was like being wrapped up in a heavy blanket. Everything seemed quiet and far away. It gave me time to think. Almost too much time. I couldn't help but feel apprehensive about being relocated. With all of the Undersiders besides Bitch being captured it seemed like an overreaction to move me and dad out of the city. Still if that's what the Protectorate thought was best, I didn't have much choice but to go along with it. Even so it felt like I was abandoning a lot, all those memories no matter how good or bad seemed to make leaving feel like I was running away.

In the seat next to me, dad shifted, mumbled something I couldn't quite make out, and stretched out.

"Hey Taylor," he said rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. "How long was I out?"

"About an hour, I think we still got a while before we land."

"Geez I forgot how boring plane rides could be."

"I guess, this is the first time I've ever done it."

"Actually it would be the third."

"Really?" I tried to remember when I ever flew before.

"Yeah, you we're a bit young so you might not remember it, but do you remember the time we all went to New York?"

"...kinda," I had a few vague memories of their visit. The city was still being rebuilt, so I couldn't have been more than four or five.

"Well, we flew then, though the flight to New York is a lot shorter than the flight to LA." He chuckled a bit.

"Yeah," I gave dad a smile, but soon my smile slid off my face. A question had been bothering me since the first time Armsmaster and I explained everything to dad. It had gotten worse as they started to plan the relocation. I knew the longer I put off asking the harder it would be to ask. Taking a deep breath I turned to look at her dad. "Are you mad?"

"Mad? About what?"

"About this, about having to move, having to leave everything behind because of me?"

"What? Of course not," he paused at my look, then sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Alright, I'll admit I was a bit angry."

"Oh," I felt a bit deflated at his admission.

"Let me finish, I was angry, but not just at you. I was mostly angry that you didn't think you could trust me, and I hated the fact that I hadn't been there enough to give you a reason to trust me. That you thought you had to hide things from me because I wouldn't understand."

"I just didn't want you to worry," I muttered.

"Taylor," Dad's voice was soft, and even a bit sad. "It's not your job to avoid worrying me. I'm your dad, I'm supposed to be the one trying to protect you, not the other way around. I know I haven't been there for you like you needed me to be. With work, and...and your mom, it's been hard. The fact is I've been letting the world get the best of me, rather than trying to fight like I used too."

I wasn't sure how to respond to that kind of admission from my dad. Instead I settled for shrugging and turning toward the window.

"Still," dad continued. "We have a chance to put all that behind us. New city, new lives, fresh start."

"Yeah," I said "Fresh start."

I hadn't really thought about that before. True I knew that we were moving, and getting new identities. I'd be starting a new school and even starting my Wards career away from all the problems, but before when I thought about it it seemed silly to think of it as anything other than just a change in location. Being in a new city wouldn't make me a new person. This might be a chance to do what I had thought about doing with the Undersiders, change things for the better. No one needed to know about Taylor Hebert, loser. Instead they could meet Taylor Forster, new kid. I could get away from all the rumors and insults and just be me. The Wards too, didn't need to know how I managed to make every mistake possible trying to do good. I'd just be the kid from Brockton Bay trying to be a hero, just like any other Ward.

That thought brought a smile to my face. For the first time in awhile I was looking forward to moving.

XxXXxX

A few hours later we arrived at the new apartment. Dad didn't have enough time to find a house in our price range. It had two bedrooms, and it was pretty new. After the flight all I wanted to do was climb into my new bed and sleep, but we had barely arrived when there was a buzz from the intercom. The Protectorate had sent someone to pick me up, so I could be introduced to the Wards.

The drive to the Protectorate Headquarters passed mostly in silence. The agent they sent to pick me up tried to make some small talk at first but frankly I was too exhausted to really deal with that sort of thing, so she gave up trying. It took almost half an hour to get there from the apartment, and if that was good time or not I couldn't tell. I was so use to Brockton Bay's more compact layout I didn't have any sense of this sort of thing. We entered through a side door that the agent told me was a way to protect the capes identities.

After we exited the call she handed me off to another agent, who led me through a long series of hallways to a large room.

"Wait here," he told me. "Someone will be by soon."

With that he left, not even giving me time to ask any questions. I was sort of put out at this point. They drag me all the way here and so far I've been bounced from one person to the next. Now I was going to have to wait for someone else? If I didn't know better I'd think this was all one big joke. With nothing better to do I started to wander around the room. It didn't seem like a waiting room. If anything it seemed like a big plaza, like you'd expect at the entrance of a museum. Only there weren't any people around. It was totally empty, and totally silent. It was actually kind of freaky. One wall was dominated by carvings. I walked up and gave it a look.

In big block letters on top it said: FOR THOSE WHO FELL SO OTHERS WOULDN'T. Underneath were names. Nearly a hundred of them. Cape names first, than real names. I could even recognize some of them.

"It's a bit overwhelming," a voice said from behind me. "Isn't it?"

"There are so many," I answered back still staring at the wall.

"More than there should be," I turned to face the speaker, and my heart leapt into my throat. Standing not five feet behind me was Alexandria herself. She was looking past me at the names on the wall. I tried to tear my gaze away, to keep from staring like a moron, but I couldn't. Slowly she looked away from the etchings and looked me dead in the eye and gave me a small smile. "Less, though, then there could be. I take comfort in that much."

I could only nod, my head swimming.

"Now, are you ready to get going?" She asked.

"Going?" I felt like I was in a totally different conversation.

"They did tell you you'd be meeting someone, right?"

"Yeah," I blinked as I processed what she was saying. "You, you're the one I was going to meet."

"Of course," she said, like it was the most natural thing in the world. "I try and meet all our new Wards. Especially if they show as much promise as you do."

Alexandria thought I showed promise? Did someone tell her she was meeting someone else. I wasn't anything more than a screw up pity case.

"You disagree?" Alexandria questioned, throwing me totally off. I must have the worst poker face ever. With her mask it was nearly impossible to tell what she was thinking, but I knew when someone was looking for an answer even to an obvious question.

"I just, everything I try and do just ends up blowing up in my face, and people keep having to bail me out."

"True, but failure is often the result of inexperience. Everyone has faced issues because they didn't have enough experience to make the hard calls or because they put their faith in the wrong people, or because they took on more than they could handle. Even the Triumvirate faced harsh lessons when we started." I didn't need to be a mind reader to know what she was talking about. "However, inexperience is by definition a temporary thing. What really makes a hero isn't their ability to leap up on day and be ready to face the dangers out there. It's about having the will to fight, to do what must be done for the greater good no matter the personal cost. If Armsmaster's report was true it would seem that you have that ability, and no small amount of courage given the dangers you're no doubt aware of. Thanks to you a budding team of supervillains were taken off the street. The only one to escape justice has a proven track record of failing to cope with modern society. It's unlikely she'll be free for long."

Part of me wanted to ask what would happen to the others. Where they'd end up or what would be done to them, but I felt I was better off not knowing. This was the plan the whole time, more or less, but it still felt like I had betrayed them. I didn't know them all that well, and in the end they didn't know the real me at all. I'd like to think we had been friends of a sort, though I knew that was mostly just wishful thinking on my part.

"Now," Alexandria said, snapping me out of my funk. "Shall we meet your new team?"

"Yeah," I smiled. "That sounds great."​

 

[doomlord9]

Nifty. One thing though, there is an enormous amount of insects in the atmosphere. Fliers of all types get caught in the drafts or intentionally use the better winds to travel.

It's still pretty empty besides them and on a plane she would be passing them by too fast to really do anything, but it'd be closer to having her power feel like the Star Trek warp effect looks like, bright spots zipping past constantly in a seemingly empty void.

 

[Prince Charon]

When Emma and her father are accosted by the ABB wannabes, Shadow Stalker is on another street, and thus does not interfere. Emma loses an eye, and spends all the time she's not in the hospital holed up in her room. When Taylor goes to visit, she gets the whole story out of Emma, and decides to help her - only this is such a big thing, that she doesn't know how to help. The stress leads to a Tinker-trigger, and Taylor is able to start Emma on the road to recovery by giving her a new eye, identical to the old one - except that this one can see most of the electromagnetic spectrum, as well as detecting magnetic fields, flowing electricity, and various metals. Also, it shoots a fairly powerful laser beam, although it takes a little while to recharge, afterward.

EDIT: While this Taylor and Emma will probably go out as heroes, I could see Taylor also making supplementary income by getting Alan to help her sell things, thanks to his being in the same firm as Brandish.

 

[Muroshi9]

Previous
​

Sound Reasoning 2​

Flying was a strange feeling I decided. Part of it was the sense of being weightless, part of it was the speed of it, and a big part of it was the fact that for the first time in weeks she couldn't feel her power at work. This high up there weren't any bugs for my mind to latch on to. It was like being wrapped up in a heavy blanket. Everything seemed quiet and far away. It gave me time to think. Almost too much time. I couldn't help but feel apprehensive about being relocated. With all of the Undersiders besides Bitch being captured it seemed like an overreaction to move me and dad out of the city. Still if that's what the Protectorate thought was best, I didn't have much choice but to go along with it. Even so it felt like I was abandoning a lot, all those memories no matter how good or bad seemed to make leaving feel like I was running away.

In the seat next to me, dad shifted, mumbled something I couldn't quite make out, and stretched out.

"Hey Taylor," he said rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. "How long was I out?"

"About an hour, I think we still got a while before we land."

"Geez I forgot how boring plane rides could be."

"I guess, this is the first time I've ever done it."

"Actually it would be the third."

"Really?" I tried to remember when I ever flew before.

"Yeah, you we're a bit young so you might not remember it, but do you remember the time we all went to New York?"

"...kinda," I had a few vague memories of their visit. The city was still being rebuilt, so I couldn't have been more than four or five.

"Well, we flew then, though the flight to New York is a lot shorter than the flight to LA." He chuckled a bit.

"Yeah," I gave dad a smile, but soon my smile slid off my face. A question had been bothering me since the first time Armsmaster and I explained everything to dad. It had gotten worse as they started to plan the relocation. I knew the longer I put off asking the harder it would be to ask. Taking a deep breath I turned to look at her dad. "Are you mad?"

"Mad? About what?"

"About this, about having to move, having to leave everything behind because of me?"

"What? Of course not," he paused at my look, then sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Alright, I'll admit I was a bit angry."

"Oh," I felt a bit deflated at his admission.

"Let me finish, I was angry, but not just at you. I was mostly angry that you didn't think you could trust me, and I hated the fact that I hadn't been there enough to give you a reason to trust me. That you thought you had to hide things from me because I wouldn't understand."

"I just didn't want you to worry," I muttered.

"Taylor," Dad's voice was soft, and even a bit sad. "It's not your job to avoid worrying me. I'm your dad, I'm supposed to be the one trying to protect you, not the other way around. I know I haven't been there for you like you needed me to be. With work, and...and your mom, it's been hard. The fact is I've been letting the world get the best of me, rather than trying to fight like I used too."

I wasn't sure how to respond to that kind of admission from my dad. Instead I settled for shrugging and turning toward the window.

"Still," dad continued. "We have a chance to put all that behind us. New city, new lives, fresh start."

"Yeah," I said "Fresh start."

I hadn't really thought about that before. True I knew that we were moving, and getting new identities. I'd be starting a new school and even starting my Wards career away from all the problems, but before when I thought about it it seemed silly to think of it as anything other than just a change in location. Being in a new city wouldn't make me a new person. This might be a chance to do what I had thought about doing with the Undersiders, change things for the better. No one needed to know about Taylor Hebert, loser. Instead they could meet Taylor Forster, new kid. I could get away from all the rumors and insults and just be me. The Wards too, didn't need to know how I managed to make every mistake possible trying to do good. I'd just be the kid from Brockton Bay trying to be a hero, just like any other Ward.

That thought brought a smile to my face. For the first time in awhile I was looking forward to moving.

XxXXxX

A few hours later we arrived at the new apartment. Dad didn't have enough time to find a house in our price range. It had two bedrooms, and it was pretty new. After the flight all I wanted to do was climb into my new bed and sleep, but we had barely arrived when there was a buzz from the intercom. The Protectorate had sent someone to pick me up, so I could be introduced to the Wards.

The drive to the Protectorate Headquarters passed mostly in silence. The agent they sent to pick me up tried to make some small talk at first but frankly I was too exhausted to really deal with that sort of thing, so she gave up trying. It took almost half an hour to get there from the apartment, and if that was good time or not I couldn't tell. I was so use to Brockton Bay's more compact layout I didn't have any sense of this sort of thing. We entered through a side door that the agent told me was a way to protect the capes identities.

After we exited the call she handed me off to another agent, who led me through a long series of hallways to a large room.

"Wait here," he told me. "Someone will be by soon."

With that he left, not even giving me time to ask any questions. I was sort of put out at this point. They drag me all the way here and so far I've been bounced from one person to the next. Now I was going to have to wait for someone else? If I didn't know better I'd think this was all one big joke. With nothing better to do I started to wander around the room. It didn't seem like a waiting room. If anything it seemed like a big plaza, like you'd expect at the entrance of a museum. Only there weren't any people around. It was totally empty, and totally silent. It was actually kind of freaky. One wall was dominated by carvings. I walked up and gave it a look.

In big block letters on top it said: FOR THOSE WHO FELL SO OTHERS WOULDN'T. Underneath were names. Nearly a hundred of them. Cape names first, than real names. I could even recognize some of them.

"It's a bit overwhelming," a voice said from behind me. "Isn't it?"

"There are so many," I answered back still staring at the wall.

"More than there should be," I turned to face the speaker, and my heart leapt into my throat. Standing not five feet behind me was Alexandria herself. She was looking past me at the names on the wall. I tried to tear my gaze away, to keep from staring like a moron, but I couldn't. Slowly she looked away from the etchings and looked me dead in the eye and gave me a small smile. "Less, though, then there could be. I take comfort in that much."

I could only nod, my head swimming.

"Now, are you ready to get going?" She asked.

"Going?" I felt like I was in a totally different conversation.

"They did tell you you'd be meeting someone, right?"

"Yeah," I blinked as I processed what she was saying. "You, you're the one I was going to meet."

"Of course," she said, like it was the most natural thing in the world. "I try and meet all our new Wards. Especially if they show as much promise as you do."

Alexandria thought I showed promise? Did someone tell her she was meeting someone else. I wasn't anything more than a screw up pity case.

"You disagree?" Alexandria questioned, throwing me totally off. I must have the worst poker face ever. With her mask it was nearly impossible to tell what she was thinking, but I knew when someone was looking for an answer even to an obvious question.

"I just, everything I try and do just ends up blowing up in my face, and people keep having to bail me out."

"True, but failure is often the result of inexperience. Everyone has faced issues because they didn't have enough experience to make the hard calls or because they put their faith in the wrong people, or because they took on more than they could handle. Even the Triumvirate faced harsh lessons when we started." I didn't need to be a mind reader to know what she was talking about. "However, inexperience is by definition a temporary thing. What really makes a hero isn't their ability to leap up on day and be ready to face the dangers out there. It's about having the will to fight, to do what must be done for the greater good no matter the personal cost. If Armsmaster's report was true it would seem that you have that ability, and no small amount of courage given the dangers you're no doubt aware of. Thanks to you a budding team of supervillains were taken off the street. The only one to escape justice has a proven track record of failing to cope with modern society. It's unlikely she'll be free for long."

Part of me wanted to ask what would happen to the others. Where they'd end up or what would be done to them, but I felt I was better off not knowing. This was the plan the whole time, more or less, but it still felt like I had betrayed them. I didn't know them all that well, and in the end they didn't know the real me at all. I'd like to think we had been friends of a sort, though I knew that was mostly just wishful thinking on my part.

"Now," Alexandria said, snapping me out of my funk. "Shall we meet your new team?"

"Yeah," I smiled. "That sounds great."​

Click to shrink...

Your "previous" link takes us to the first of a different of your stories. Prey no more instead of Sound reasoning.

 

[DoggySoup]

Hostage 1.1

---

Emma:
My first sensation I felt as I woke up was discomfort. I first assumed that I had fallen from my bed, but my bedroom floor isn't hard metal, and my bedroom wasn't as cold as this.

More importantly, I've never slept in the middle of a metal floor with somebody laying on top of me.

I made a tremendous heave and rolled the person off of me bfore standing up and looking around. he room was far to dark an quiet, but the quiet was perfect to hear the other occupant rustle awake and try to look around.

"Hello?"

My eyes widened. I knew that whimpering voice anywhere. I took a breath and just as I was about to speak, the room became blindingly bright. Both of us raised our hands quickly to shield our eyes from the light. After a few minutes, we were accustomed to the bright flouresent glow of the room.

There was a single bed in the corner that consisted of a large matress on the floor and at the opposide side was a shower, sink and toilet. Apart from lighting, the room had several cameras in the ceiling and finally a large metal door with two flaps. One lower and one upper. Embedded in the upper corners near the two cameras were speakers.

More important was my roommate. Either out of disbelef or irony, Taylor Hebert was standing before me. I noted with irritation that she was dressed in plain grey scrubs, without shoes or her glasses.

How many times had Sophia taken her glasses, anyway?

Looking down at myself, I was in the same situation. Barefoot, grey scrubs.

"I guess you both are awake already," a distorted voice boomed over the speakers. "I'm not going to introduce myself, but I am here to tell you that the both of you are currently hostages. Both of you have someone rather important who I would like to do my bidding, but I promise you that you will be released if the cooperate."

After a few seconds of stunned silence while staring at the speakers, I got my bearings. I was kidnapped. I was actually taken away for real this time. A weight suddenly pressed itself on my chest.

Taylor walked over to the bed and sat down, as if it was normal. She put her knees up and sat there, back against the wall.

"What are you doing?" The words escaped my mouth before I could stop them.

Taylor looked at me. She didn't say anything - nothing at all. She just stared right into me and then through me. Most of it was her lack of proper eyesight.

"What the fuck are you doing?" I asked again, harder this time.

Taylor took a moment's pause. "Just leave me alone, Emma."

I blinked. She was just sitting there in sweats, treating something like being kidnapped like it was waiting for a bus. What the fuck was wrong with her?

I unclenched my fist and took a deep breath.

"What if I don't want to?"

"What?"

"What if I don't want to leave you alone? I mean, I doubt there is anyone who'd actually fucking care about you in the first place." I felt Taylor's flinch. "You've been gone for weeks and nobody remembers you, Taylor. I honestly expected you to end up with the Merchants or something."

Taylor still made a delay before speaking again, softly as ever. "Can you please be quiet?"

"Why?"

Taylor shifted on the mattress and I began pacing the room. This was going to be hell.

- - -

The speakers buzzed an hour later, stirring my from my glaring contest at Taylor.

"Emma? Are you there?"

It was Sophia. I got up to my feet immediately, shouting at the speakers. "Hey! Can you here me? Hey!"

There was a pause and I feared that there wasn't a way to talk back. After several long seconds Sophia spoke again before being cut off.

"What di-"

"Sophia!" I shouted. "Hey! Help me!"

It was too late, I was cut off from her.

"No! Put her back on!" I screamed. I wanted to kick something; to hit something. My gaze settled on Taylor.

I eventually calmed myself down and slumped on the floor facing Taylor.

 

[tertius]

I didn't think I'd like this, but as it turns out, I do!

 

[Dr. Mercurious]

Is this ShadowBug? Because it looked like ShadowBug. Please, make this a thread? It interests me strangely.

 

[Prince Charon]

Alma Wade was one of the first parahumans to trigger. She was studied by her father's company for years afterward, and something pretty close to one or more of the F.E.A.R. games did happen. Eventually, she learns that some of her ovae were sent out into the wild, so to speak, to allow infertile women to have children.

Now, she's coming to Brockton Bay, to find her baby (who might be Taylor, or might be someone else - maybe Lisa is her daughter, and there's more to her power than just Thinking, for example; maybe Theo's birth-mother was infertile).

 

[TanaNari]

AN: I wanted to write something happy.

Click to shrink...

You're all over the place with tenses, however.

Also, Madi thinks like she has actual clinical brain damage.

 

[Dr. Mercurious]

That was one of the most fucked up Taylor fics I have read. Moar plz?

 

[Prince Charon]

I've begun threadmarking the snippets in this thread... at least, the ones with titles. This will take a while.

Note that some, like this one, are only not being threadmarked because of said lack of title.