With Our Dying Breath [Worm/Fate]

[NickNock]

You're a king, Tamzar. Maybe it's the alcohol talking, but I love your stories and I love you. Happy Thanksgiving, thank you for the new chapters

 

[CannibalPride]

Helena Blatavsky would discover the entity's cycle... maybe even somehow find the Garden of Eden all in the name of alien conspiracies!

 

[Epitome of Eccentricity]

You know what's funny? Apparently there's a photo of one of my great great grandmothers or something being really cost with Helena. I haven't seen it, but my dad says it's somewhere. He thinks they were lovers.

 

[Expansive J T]

This is really good so far! Capone's last stand was a pretty good scene, he really did not give a fuck.
Excited to see how the fallout of Lung vs Merchant capes looks.

 

[NirNiobis]

This one is good, but just a bit anticlimactic. My bad, frankly speaking I've expected sfw version of Duellist, where action will be a priority, even if it's action from weak character. Or nothing similar to D, but Fate-power on par with Faire Queen grants a lot of opportunities for... slow development and detective work it seems.
Just hope for faster power-ups, otherwise I afraid that author himself will become bored soon.

 

[Tamzar]

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♦ Topic: Canberra Quarantine Fully Established
In: Boards ► Places ► Canberra
EBResponseOfficial (Original Poster) (Verified Spokesperson)
Posted On Feb 26th 2011:
The Joint International Task Force for Endbringer Response has confirmed that the quarantine around Canberra has been fully established. Know that nobody is happy with this tragic result, including the heroes and staff responsible for creating and enforcing this quarantine. Let it be clear that attacking heroes online or in-person for their part in attending Endbringer fights is a crime, and local law enforcement will not hesitate to prosecute you should you choose to do so.

A memorial service for the fallen will be announced over the coming days. Please check this post for details about finding and reuniting successful refugees and consider donating to charitable efforts relating to this crisis here.

As we expect a large amount of activity on these boards over the coming days and weeks, the mods have enforced a zero-tolerance policy for any rule-breaking posts - read the rules here before you post.

(Showing page 1 of 1)

►Automoderator (Moderator)
Replied On Feb 26th 2011:
Beep. Boop. I'm a bot.

This post has been automatically locked by the author. No replies will be accepted at this time.

End of Page. 1

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♦ Topic: ABB Rampage
In: Boards ► Places ► Brockton Bay
BubblesTheGoat (Original Poster)
Posted On Feb 25th 2011:
Apparently, getting a good night of sleep is too much to ask for in Brockton Bay these days. Got woken up in the middle of the night by some jokers in an actual tank of some sort chasing some new Cape. (PIC)

Anyone know who these assholes are?

Edit: So this blew up a bit, and people keep nagging me to update the OP so I'm just going to copy/paste Bagrat's post from earlier:

"Hey Guys, That's the local gang of drug-dealers, the Archer's Bridge Merchants - and their two Capes Squealer (Vehicle Tinker) and Skidmark (some kind of acceleration-field Shaker, but nobody really knows for sure). I'm not familiar with the new Cape, but the PRT has sent out a request for information here stating that the man and his accomplices are currently wanted for questioning. No more details on that front quite yet.

From what I can tell from the after-action reports, this Cape (possibly part of a rival gang) attacked a Merchants gathering and absolutely slaughtered everyone inside. Dozens, if not hundreds, dead. The two Capes were hanging around inside a nearby workshop and objected to that, chasing the Cape halfway across the city in their monster-tank - where he led them right into the path of an extremely angry Lung, who was likely annoyed at the fact that they had taken up residence in his territory.

Cue another chase across the city as the Merchants scrap with Lung, which goes as poorly as you might expect despite their mobility. Skidmark is dead, caught on video here (NSFL, can't actually make out the details once the hand closes and the fire starts, but it isn't pleasant viewing nevertheless). Squealer ejected into Empire territory, and while they haven't announced that they have a Tinker yet - they almost certainly have a Tinker now.

The Cape that they were originally chasing was found and accosted by Protectorate forces, although the exact outcome of that meeting is a mystery - no arrest records, no new arrivals inside the Protectorate HQ, no obvious sign of a Cape fight and no details posted regarding a new Villain/Vigilante. Whatever it is, they're keeping their cards close to their chest for the moment."

(Showing page 9 of 12)

►Antigone
Replied On Feb 29th 2011:
Fuck the Merchants, glad they're gone. Parasites. Maybe Lung can swing around and do the same to the Empire too.

►TheseusIsBack
Replied On Feb 29th 2011:
Sure, fuck the Merchants - but also fuck the new guys who came in to replace them. Look at that death count for the first day, fucking psychopaths.

►OneManArmy
Replied On Feb 29th 2011:
Protectorate looking useless again. Literally just standing around watching while someone gets torched in front of them. Why did they even bother coming out if they're just going to let Lung do whatever he likes?

And all of you assholes cheering now that the Merchants are gone, at least they looked out for the black man in this city. You think the ABB and Empire are going to try cozying up to you now that they're gone? Time to move.

►DeltaSignal
Replied On Feb 29th 2011:
Law enforcement just put out a bulletin on the new Cape – apparently they suspect that this is a new gang trying to gain some clout. They think they multiple Capes, with one that can create gun-wielding minions of varying intelligence - apparently the extras that attacked the Merchants with the original "Cape" literally had no face, couldn't respond to speech, failed to perform basic tasks outside of combat and eventually disappeared into thin-air.

Word is that they think that this Cape or a supporting Cape interacting with their power made a more advanced, thinking version (that titled itself "Al Capone" of all things), and suspect that there may be some relation to the gunman that attacked the Empire a while back - killing Victor and the other guy that visits every now and then when the Empire does its shows of force.

That's mostly based on the fact that both of them (apparently) disappeared into thin-air in similar fashion. If true, that means that the new Master is working with a Cape capable of changing the weather on a fairly wide-scale - likely a new gang hitting out at their most immediate rivals.

►PurifyAmerica
Replied On Feb 29th 2011:
@ DeltaSignal Nice, because the Bay needed nothing more than a bunch of suicidal gunmen running around shooting everyone they don't like.

Can't wait for the Protectorate to come out and do something about this. What's that? Silence. And they wonder why everyone with a brain sides with the Empire in these fights.

►ArchpriestFrancis
Replied On Feb 29th 2011:
@ DeltaSignal So... Crusader, but with guns?

►MercyIsForMePls
Replied On Feb 30th 2011:
@ ArchpriestFrancis Not quite as limited in range, or perhaps they can simply delegate command to their more advanced minions.

At the very least, there seems to be some kind of limit to it - the fact that they seem to vanish after a certain time-frame is probably letting the PRT sleep a little easier at night. Nobody wants another Nilbog running around.

►Charred
Replied On Feb 30th 2011:
Well, without trying to earn myself a threadban from the mods after the bloodbath on page seven... they haven't hit any heroes yet. If they want to take a swing at the gangs and can keep it at that level, I'm not going to shed any tears over them.

►PurifyAmerica
Replied On Feb 30th 2011:
@ Charred Literally dozens, if not hundreds of people are dead. The Empire loses two of its best taking down an actual terrorist and you're going to give the terrorists a pat on the back?

You make me sick.

►Charred
Replied On Feb 31st 2011:
@ PurifyAmerica Suuuure buddy, looking at your username and post history - I somehow doubt that you really care about all the local drug-dealers getting offed. Sad about your Nazi friends? I'm not. If we can handle the cost of WW2 to beat the Nazis out of Germany, I think we can handle losing some of the worst society has to offer to get them off of our home soil.

End of Page. 1, 2, 3 ... 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

---

"Taylor!" The sound of clicking fingers and a stamping foot draws me from the screen. "You aren't listening to me again!" Helena crosses her arms and pouts at me.

"I thought you were talking to your dolls." I confess, only slightly apologetic. "You were saying?"

She smiles, instantly forgiving me. "I was saying that I've finished up with building my temple. It's a lot smaller than I would like, but I realise there isn't too much to be done about it right now."

Right. My basement is only so big. "And?"

"I was hoping to use it to solve our mana issues. It's mostly an issue with the supply we get at once, so I tried to find a local ley-line that I could just… pull our way. Redirect a little bit." She takes over my chair. "-which completely failed."

"Nothing is ever easy." I nod. "Do you know why? I don't think I'm up to summoning another Servant, but I've been expecting to have to move at some point for a while now." Dad would… be fine.

She shakes her head. "It wasn't even a matter of it being too locked down, I just couldn't find one. Combining that with the general lack of ambient mana in the environment, it opens the way to several potential theories." Where did she get the whiteboard? "This is my primary one: Magic isn't real."

I pause. I didn't entirely disagree, but- "I'm surprised to hear you say that." I tell her diplomatically.

She pulls a face at me. "This world is lacking in mystery, and more specifically lacking the sufficient flow of mana, to allow magical phenomena to truly exist. There's something there, of course – or the world itself would be visibly dying – just not enough to allow anything other than the Age of Man to exist or thrive." She nudges the chair into a slow spin. "There is no magus association, and perhaps in modern times, there never was."

I close my eyes. "I don't know what half of that means." I flop onto my bed.

She purses her lips for a moment. "Consider the creation of the world. How did we get here? How did mankind first arrive on this world?" She makes a hand gesture towards me, encouraging me to speak.

"We evolved over time? From little blobs of cells in the sea?" I shrug at her.

"Yes, but at the same time – no." Helena clearly expected that answer. "Or rather, that is the undeniably correct answer for the Age of Man. Just as modern science can approximately estimate the age of the Earth, find fossils of our evolutionary ancestors and trace the origins of all life back to the Big Bang. We can conclusively say things like, true dragons do not exist. Ragnarok never happened. The gods are not real. Vampires are a mere myth. These things have always been true, but at the same time weren't always true a few hundred or thousands of year ago, because we lack the perspective of that era. Those things are no longer normal, the textures of reality that supported them are gone and the planet itself represses their existence as their influence fades."

"That makes no sense at all." I state bluntly.

Caster ignores me. "The Age of Man finds answers suitable for the Age of Man. Physics, as we now understand them, simply did not exist in the same form thousands of years ago as they do today." A book spins around her head and emits a circle of flame around itself. She gestures at it. "As a Caster from the Age of Man- and also as a Servant – the lack of mystery in this world is of little consequence to me save for limiting a few options and cutting down on the general sustainability of things I make. But even doing a spell as simple as this would be impossible for you, regardless of the energy flooding through your body. No Mystery to work with to accomplish something that complicated."

"I've had a few Casters try to talk to me in my sleep about that stuff." I admit. "I've never really understood it well. It's not like gravity just started working between one day and the next, just because we didn't understand something – doesn't mean it wasn't there."

She tilts her head in acknowledgement. "An understandable position, but you're thinking about it from the wrong direction. I'll explain it as best I can. Looking at it from a distance, yes, the effects of gravity and motion may still have existed – but only because that was the will of Gaia or the local gods, or perhaps an even more fundamental law of the universe. A science experiment to try and measure the acceleration of gravity simply wouldn't get consistent results in different places back then – things fell down because the planet or the local deities wanted them to. They, quite literally, didn't have to explain anything – science from the human perspective was unimportant and unable to make an impression on the nature of the world. No hard numbers or science needed to be involved to make those forces work – things just happened. Humanity's observations and understanding of the world around it had no more influence than any over animal you might compare them to."

I idly stretch out my legs as I wait for her to continue.

"I could talk a lot about layers, textures and how usual magecraft works with regards to self-suggestion and unusual perceptions of reality – something I'm quite familiar with personally – but it ultimately isn't relevant here." She taps the whiteboard again. "What is relevant is how the different layers of reality has different rules and how Mystery makes things work inside them, I suppose it might be better to think of it as an equation." Helena raises her eyes to the still-burning book over her head. "If you want to make a fire in the modern day, you need fuel, heat and oxygen – right? It's basic maths, if you have enough of those three you get a fire."

"I suppose." I could at least follow this part of the conversation, considering most talk about magic went over my head when heroic spirits started arguing in my head.

She makes a spinning gesture with her hand. "Think of Mystery as a big question mark in that equation. When I was alive, I tried to unite science, magic and religion – making a number of new forms of magecraft along the way. One of those was an almost ritualistic, reliable approach to magecraft with low-level but consistent results. If you draw a circle in the correct way and add enough power to it, fire comes out the other end – something like that."

The Caster regards me for a moment before continuing. "We could, perhaps, consider that oxygen is still necessary for the end result and that the fuel is simply the generated mana of the caster – but it's clear to see that the standard reactions of something burning isn't happening to the 'fuel' we are using and the heat appears to come out of nowhere. Those unknowns defy common reasoning, with Mystery acting as both a potential source of power that defies physics and as something that embodies the weight and history of a given story or spell – although that last part only tends to matter when fighting against other Servants or the influence of Gaia."

The lecture continues. "As people dig into Mystery to understand its fundamentals and methodology, it starts to lose its power – that unobserved space to move around in. Unless the spell is something so brimming in power that the local laws don't apply to it, the simple spell of making and manipulating fire might be increasingly constrained by a common understanding of chemical reactions, the transference of heat and eventually the process by which the atoms themselves are influenced. As I said, a big question mark in the clean equations of science – that's Mystery, as the general understanding of Science grows, Mystery shrinks. If you can truly explain every last detail to the common man, it isn't Mystery any more – simply an extension of Humanity's understanding and influence on the world."

I lean backwards and stare at the ceiling for a moment. "I feel like you're using a lot of big words just to say: 'It works because nobody can prove it shouldn't.'"

Caster beams at me. "That's actually a great way to sum it up, but the important thing is that Mystery does have its limits. The question mark can only be so big at a certain time, if that makes sense. I lived in the Age of Man, and while we can use magic to fudge details about the fuel source, reactions or the heat involved – modern magecraft can't just bend everything to our will like that because Mystery isn't as omnipresent as it once was. The more rules of the world that we understand and perceive through the lens of science, the more Mystery required to overrule it. Even if the nature of mana is still firmly within the realms of Mystery, we still understand it as the fuel source and recognise that it must be finite."

"But in a time with less Mystery, that isn't the case? Or it is the case, but there's so much of it that it doesn't matter?" I toss in my speculation. "If the process of something burning and the chemical reactions involved isn't known, then a bush burning for a week straight would seem to fit right in."

A flash of approval. "That's right. In the Age of the Gods, there were more unknowns to the world – a bigger question mark, if we continue the metaphor. The local textures, that is to say – the physics and mythology imposed on that area by the local gods – were out of our control. We didn't understand why fire worked the way it does, why the tide comes in or even our place in the solar system – and that lack of knowledge could almost be considered part of the magical system itself, from our perspective at least. There were rules, of course, but we lived in a world that bent itself to the perspectives and realities of the gods – it might have shared similarities to our world, because our successor reality was at least somewhat based on theirs – but what happened in those days is utterly inexplainable to us now. When a god waves their hand and parts the seas, or sets the desert aflame, or decides that the sun won't rise for three days and nights – it just works. Even if to us, the entire equation is just a bunch of Mystery equalling the result, that's all it used to take."

"Fine, I get that much." In a way. Anyone would call me insane trying to explain this. "But what I don't understand is how there is no Mystery around today when we have Alexandria flying rings around aircraft, giant rage-dragons burning holes in the city and violent Nazi thugs that can turn into a metal blender at will. We might have a better grasp on science than we did back then, but I don't think anyone really knows how powers work. Shouldn't that mean that there should be a lot of the stuff floating around? Or that somebody's power would stop working once someone starts poking them with needles and measuring equipment?"

"That is something I would love to research." Helena lightly skips across the room to collect a cup of tea from a doll being used as a maid. "At first, I guessed that it was a resurgence of the Mahatmas, sending their gifts out into the world once again. Then a reversal of that, people retracing their path to reach the original truth and gaining phenomenal powers from it – not unlike the typical path that a Magus would try to walk in life. But that wouldn't explain your body or your connection to the Throne."

I blink, suddenly self-conscious. "My body?"

"There's nothing special about it, and that's the problem." Caster frowns. "No, that's not quite the way I wanted to say that. Rather, it's a very standard human body that is having special things pushed onto it. I mentioned that the lack of Mystery in this world included humans – and that includes you. The magical circuits that seem to be racing across your body when you exert yourself aren't real, or at least – they aren't capable of generating anything. It's like someone was given a template of what a Magus should look like and is near-perfectly controlling mana to go down the same paths in a normal body to mimic the effects. It isn't healthy, but you seem to be adapting better than I would have expected – though I'll keep my speculation on why to myself for now."

"I think I would prefer to know, in case I happen to drop dead after a few months." I sigh. "And if I could solve the issue holding me back from stronger Servants then that would accelerate me years ahead of schedule."

"I suspect that the former won't happen, although Dr Blavatsky will be happy to keep checking up on you every day!" She stands on one leg and flashes a peace sign over one eye, like a ditzy schoolgirl character out of one of Greg's weird cartoons. "I'll get back to the important part though - if you aren't generating it – then the spontaneous appearance of new mana inside your body for you to process needs to be explained. I can't feel any conceptual weight or Mystery behind it, so it has to come from somewhere or something else that we can't see – using a process or spell that has been perfectly explained using an understanding that is still alien to us."

"Powers can be pretty weird. There's plenty of Capes that do things to their bodies that should kill them, like – their brain just turns into water along with the rest of them or their entire body suddenly becomes intangible, yet they're always fine in the end." I grimace. "In fact, I was looking online and I think I'm one of the worst-off aside from Case 53's when it comes to my powers hurting me through use – if anything I would say that my power is worse at not-harming me than most."

She makes a humming sound, musing out loud to herself. "If the mana here wasn't so passive, I would have guessed that Gaia was dominant here and was behind it somehow – but instead we are left with an interesting puzzle just like the parahuman abilities elsewhere in the world. Where is this energy coming from? Why is it so well-integrated with your body, when the process is not dissimilar to keeping the plumbing of this house working without the pipes or the walls in place? Something remote-controlling the process should fail the moment you do something as simple as moving your arm, yet here you stand – alive and well."

"If you want to speculate on the origins of parahumans, use the internet – I don't have any good ideas on that part myself." I stretch my arms above my head in a yawn. "Getting plugged into the Throne of Heroes might be a lucky break for us, but-"

"No." Caster denies quietly, tinkering with a slightly ragged doll floating in front of her ignoring its attempts to squirm out of her grip.

"Hm?" I regard her out of the corner of my eye.

"For that part at least, luck had nothing to do with it. It couldn't have anything to do with it. The Throne is explicitly under the purview of the Human Order, having the slightest, most insignificant connection with it would be entirely deliberate and calculated. Even the simple act of summoning Servants is impossible in worlds not supplied or supported by Alaya – even a Holy Grail couldn't fully overcome that fact." She lets out a huff of air. "The counter-force is involved in this somehow, you were meant to have this power – however unexplainable the exact methodology is to me right now."

I purse my lips. "Seems like a waste to give me a power capable of doing this, when this world is about to be deleted in a few years. You would think it would cut its losses and save its energy."

"You would." I pause, not expecting her to agree on that part without dropping some new tidbit of knowledge onto me. "More interesting is the fact that you have a sense of the pruning process. It implies a connection of some sort exists, but as a non-Magus there aren't any unusual origins, mystic eyes or strange ancestry in you that would explain something like that."

"Well, I don't have any insight on that one either." I blow hair out of my eyes with a huff. "But I think I'm unique with regards to that. Plenty of pre-cogs and fake pre-cogs have predicted the end of the world, but nobody has seen anything similar to me." I turn onto my back, staring at the ceiling with blank eyes. "Which probably shows that nobody is ever going to truly believe me. Some madwoman predicting the end of the world and probably killing thousands to stop it. For all I know, I might just be crazy. What if I just… reach the end of the countdown and life just keeps going on? How am I supposed to justify that to everyone?"

"Why do you need to justify yourself to anyone?" She places her hands on her hips as she peers at me. "I never once got anyone from the Clock Tower – that's the local magus association for you – to admit that I was right about pretty much everything. Yet who invented all of those schools of magic that their descendants so desperately cling to even in the modern era? When all of them felt that the rapid advance of science would utterly crush all mysticism from the world, who was it that showed them the way forward? Me. I didn't need the validation from them, my results did the speaking for me."

"Mm." I sigh. "Except my results should be essentially undetectable to anyone else. Just one day like any other, assuming I even make it to that point without getting-" A kill order. "-stopped."

Helena hums at me. "I suppose that's true, but perhaps you should consider that even if most people may not recognise the end goal, the journey itself may be a worthy cause on its own merits. Even if your end goal is to make sufficient positive change to the world's viability to avoid the pruning phenomenon, that in itself would necessitate a reversal of society's fortunes – the defeat of the Endbringers at the very least being among them. I only have a vague sense of the details from my summoning, but the impression that I have of them is that even the capability to drive one off would make you near indispensable and save countless lives regardless of your history."

"I would need to do more than that, but it would be a start." I shuffle to the side as one of the Olcott dolls floats into the room holding a new pillowcase, immediately followed by another pair hidden under a bundle of white fabric – apparently not seeing my occupation of the bed as any reason to not change the sheets right now. "I don't know if your summoning told you, but the Simurgh attacked a week or two ago. Australia." She falls silent as I go on. "I didn't even consider going for a moment, glanced at the news and just moved on. I didn't know a modern Servant that would do anything of note to her, not to mention the fact that I didn't really want to reveal myself to the PRT regardless of the rules of any truce. And those are valid reasons." I dab my lips. "But mostly? I'm just scared of her. Plenty of people have set out to make the world a better place. Uplift society and all of that, and she's the one who always brings those people back down to earth as her pet monsters."

I can't fail. I can't.

"Is that such a bad thing? You can hardly be blamed for an abundance of caution given the circumstances." She shrugs. "It's easy for me to just follow the voice of the Mahatmas when I don't know what to do, but you just have your instincts to rely on. And of course, you hadn't summoned me at that point." She preens for a moment before returning to her usual posture.

"That's the problem though. Even if I had you, I wouldn't have gone. What Servant could I take, even if they were inaccessible to me now, that I would feel both safe placing myself close to the Simurgh while also being sure that they wouldn't be overly affected by her scream?" I find myself ushered off of the bed by an Olcott headbutting me in the leg repeatedly. "I couldn't find an answer, and I need one. It's easy for me to hide in the shadows and hit a gang while they don't even understand the nature of their enemy or how to find me – but against a superior opponent like that, forcing me to fight on their terms with no time to prepare the battlefield? I don't know what the correct answer is, but I have to find it to be able to stop her."

"One that you don't need right now." She answers for me promptly. "You might know that you possess the capability to one day make a difference in those fights, but you should also know your limits as you are now. Until you reach the level of those top-tier Capes that can make a difference in those fights, you know that you are just risking everything for the sake of feeling like you tried." She smiles kindly. "Let me help you push what you can do now, and put aside your worries about a seemingly unachievable goal in the future. Small steps, Master."

"But in order for me to do something now, I need a Servant willing to take action against the gangs for me." I lock eyes with her. "And that isn't you." Not a combatant, for all her apparent skill. No, that wasn't the right word – not someone with an ego to work with. No bloodlust, no grand ambition to destroy their enemies, just a desire to learn and explore the mysteries of the world. I had no card to play here to entice her into battle, nothing to offer her except my continuous stream of mana – but did she care that much about it that she would compromise her ethics for me? And if she did, how long until the Caster built a workaround that didn't involve me at all?

She looks at me with a steady gaze. "I'm still your Servant, and I have respect for the nature of that relationship itself. I fully intend to help you in my own way, but if you want someone to go on a bloody murder-spree across the city – then yes, you need somebody else." She looks towards the window. "I think a few others in the Throne would agree with me here: This world is for the living. The dead have no place deciding its fate."

"I don't need you to do any fate-deciding or anything of the sort. Is helping me make the city crime-free really that much to ask?" I already knew the answer. I was just bitter about it. "The ABB forces a new batch of women into brothels every other week, the Empire is full of literal Nazi's in all-but-open warfare against anyone with the wrong skin colour in their territory. You're just going to let it happen? Taking away all of the rhetoric and philosophy, that's your answer?" Perhaps I was being a bit antagonistic, but it wasn't purely aimed at her – if a few of those holier-than-thou heroic spirits eavesdropping from the safety of my head took my words to heart, then so much the better.

She doesn't flinch at the question. "That train of thought doesn't end, Master. There will always be another crisis, another victim to be saved, more criminals to be stopped. I'm not a hero, not in that sense. I never have been. The kind of selflessness required to slave away at that kind of task for years on end? That isn't me. I'm an explorer. A researcher. A philosopher. And of course, a magus." She paces backwards for a moment. "It is true that I could probably do more, but that's true of most heroic spirits you are capable of summoning. No shortage of people looking for a fun battle against a worthy opponent, but not quite as many that would be satisfied at being a mindless killer in the service of a master – with no ideals or dreams of their own to pursue. I don't doubt that there would be a few, of course – but without a Holy Grail to fight over…"

"You don't have to be a mindless killer to realise that Hookwolf has murdered dozens in broad daylight and is right on the brink of getting a kill order anyway. I'm not asking for civilians to be gunned down in the street or anything that abhorrent." I push myself back up to an upright position. "If you have the power to do something when you see something that is wrong, why wouldn't you do something about it?"

She tilts her head with a glint in her eye. Suddenly, I can't help but shake the feeling that she's arguing purely to hear my real thoughts out loud. "Isn't that just human nature? At the end of the day, the superheroes and supervillains hang up their capes and go home for the day or return to their daily lives – despite knowing that there is always more work to do. Even in this city, politicians hand themselves lavish bonuses, approve frivolous expenses and fund the refurbishment of their friend's properties despite knowing full-well that the decline of the city could be somewhat rectified by fixing the boat graveyard and properly funding police and education. Regular citizens and millionaires alike hoard their money when they can, spending it on holidays and leisure when people across the world are starving and destitute." Helena crosses her arms. "Is that evil of them? Would it be hypocritical of them to be moved to action when they discover that a close friend of theirs was robbed or going to become homeless?"

"We can't let ourselves be swayed by what other people are or aren't doing. We'd just end up contributing to the mess our world has ended up in. We need to be better. Do better. The stakes are too high to just hope that someone else will fix it if I ignore it. I-" I clear my throat as my voice breaks briefly. "I know that I can't expect anyone else to jump into action if they don't have that threat of imminent death hanging over their heads, nobody else would believe it. But I know the truth, and as my Servants, you all know the truth as well. Even if you don't have a personal stake in my world, there isn't anyone else other than us that people here can be saved by."

"And why do you want to save them?" Caster stops me bluntly. "I hope you'll forgive me for saying this, but you don't seem to care overly much about your own life coming to an end. You sometimes mention your father, but you hardly even talk to each other – I expected to have to do some work to keep him away or hypnotise away any unfortunate slips in a conversation but you genuinely haven't exchanged more than a few, almost ritualistic greetings and farewells ever since I first arrived. How long has it been since you've had a real conversation with someone that isn't a Servant? Weeks."

I jerk back defensively at the unexpected attack on my familial bonds. "He's been busy! And I can hardly talk about what I'm doing, it's just a lack of shared interests – it doesn't mean anything." I grimace. "But, no, we aren't as close as we used to be."

"I wasn't trying to offend you, merely sharing my observations." I can't help but shake the feeling that the name of the expression she was giving me was pity. "Observations that point out that you have almost nothing connecting you to your old life that might hold your actions back. The interesting fact that out of all the mentalities someone in your position could arrive at, you arrive at one that perfectly intersects with the likely goals of the Counter Force. Do you think that you felt this way, this deeply, before you got your powers? That your ethics and morality are unchanged since that time?"

"I-" I shake my head. "Obviously. I mean, I didn't know the world was ending then – but thinking that things would be better off with more heroes and less villains is hardly an extremist position. I'm not being mind-controlled to want to save the world, if that's what you were implying. I would have noticed."

"Perhaps not in that way, no." She holds a finger out, not sounding convinced despite her words. "But that isn't to say that we can't be guided without knowing it. I couldn't always hear the voice of the Mahatmas when I was alive, but I'm certain that I was guided down the correct path regardless. The guidance doesn't have to be obvious, especially if the Counter Force can select someone who starts with the right mindset."

"I could say much the same about the Simurgh, but somehow most people manage to get on with their lives without being worried about whether or not they've been mastered or not." I grumble.

"That's true." Madame Blavatsky's eyes practically glow, seemingly anticipating my dismissal. "It is just a guess, based on how the Counter Force usually prefers the simple, energy-efficient solutions. A hypothesis, if you will – that would be supported by an investigation into changes to your usual activities. When was the last time you did something that you enjoyed? Completely unrelated to your current mission?"

Something that I enjoyed? I glance over at my bookshelf, grimacing at the thin line of dust there. "It has been a while." I concede. "But I've had a lot on my plate since the winter break. I have a countdown to the end of the world in my head, I think I can be forgiven for not wanting to take a break."

"That's also true." Caster doesn't offer a rebuttal this time, merely accepting the point with an aura about her that somehow ticks me off a little. Like she had just wanted to raise the possibility and having achieved that mission, was happy to back off. She throws her hands up in the air with a suddenly carefree expression. "But it's all just speculation, and doesn't really change anything does it? I should apologise for drilling you so much on this, locking myself up in the basement for the last few days has clearly made me a bit too hungry for some insightful conversation on philosophy, ethics and free will. It's a shame that summoning a second Servant full-time is likely going to be out of reach for quite a while, it would be nice to work with Tesla or Edison again. We make an excellent team."

I blink at the sudden change in topic. "Ah, I don't think I've noticed them popping into my… headspace or whatever I should call it. I didn't go looking for them either." I wave a hand around vaguely. "I thought that it would probably be better to go for someone with actual magic, if you see what I mean."

Helena pauses. "Well. They certainly aren't magic users in most senses of the word, but they are still Servants. You didn't think that just because they were relatively modern, all they would be capable of would be fixing the sockets at your house – did you?"

Not in so many words. "I-" I cough. "Well. I don't exactly get a big page of everybody's abilities to look through, I have to actively inspect the one I'm thinking about through the Throne. If I want a certain power, I have to either search the Throne for ideas myself, ask someone in the Throne if they have any ideas or find someone through the internet and then find that person in the Throne. It's time-consuming!" I defend myself from her wide grin. Seeing no signs of success, I make a defeated noise with my lips and turn my head away. "Hmph."

I yelp as my cheek gets pinched, turning to face the amused Servant floating in front of me. "I'm just teasing you Taylor. To be honest, although they are both quite competent – they aren't what anyone could call subtle. A strong force multiplier for you once you have an established base or a strong connection to the electrical grid, but probably going to attract more attention than you want before that point."

I try to regain some semblance of control over the conversation. "Getting back to…" What were we even talking about before this little detour of a conversation. "…you helping, as a Servant." I make an encompassing gesture at the city. "I know that you don't want to go attacking the gangs like my more recent Servants did, but I was hoping that you could do… something. I don't know, I'm not a wizard – but some of the spirits I was talking to in my head kind of made it sound like Casters were Tinkers and I could really use some magic solution to some of my issues." I send her a large pulse of magic, letting the red glow race across my arms briefly before fading as I pull back on the flow again. "Did you make any progress on that while you were working on your… thing in the basement?"

My arm now felt like I had left it out in the sun for a little too long, not enough to be a real burn but still a sensation of heat and discomfort that didn't fade when I stood in the shade.

"I'm glad you asked, Taylor." She seems to be using my name more and more, but I don't care to pull her up on it out of costume. Not that I had a real costume but still. "Meet the solution to all of your problems, Olcott Prime!" She hefts one of her dolls into the air, complete with a blue coat with red highlights. It seems content in her grip despite being effectively grasped around the face and swung around.

"I don't really need a maid." I deadpan. "I mean, they're good at cleaning and hiding from Dad – but I don't know if that's the extent of my problems."

She stamps her foot on the ground. "No! Taylor, you're deliberately mocking me! And Olcott! You'll apologise by the end of this, when I reveal how amazing he is! Hold him!" I comply, taking it from her grasp with both hands. "Now, flare-up that energy flow again – don't direct it at me, just let it circulate." I could do that? The room gains a reddish tinge as my body lights up. I could. Interesting. Perhaps-

The room spins. "Urk." I sit down heavily, realising my fatigue a few seconds after my body had already dropped. I didn't even feel the pull of energy happen, but my body was intimately familiar by now with the feeling of exhaustion that accompanied large magical expenditures like summoning. "What- What was that?"

Caster simply points to a green-striped Olcott across the room. A fuzzy hat atop his head changes colour as I watch, blue rising to the top like a loading bar. "Meet the first success of COMBINES. Colonel Olcott's Mana Battery and Interconnected Network for Energy Storage!" I refrain from commenting on the poor acronym. "The little fellow you have in your hand there has two modes, the first mode is what you just witnessed: sucking up any excess mana you don't happen to be using in a big burst – then sending it through the Olcott network to an empty battery Olcott to be stored. The second, naturally, is to reverse that flow – sending all of that gathered energy right back at you for you to use."

My eyebrows raise as I consider the happily spinning green Olcott. "That thing has all of that mana in it?" It didn't entirely solve my issues with sustained mana output, as the stronger Servants would chew through a large amount of those reserves in short order – but for getting over the peak energy requirements for summoning and certain Noble Phantasms? Useful.

"That thing?" Helena seems dead-set on fully destroying the grim mood of our previous conversation by petulantly feigning outrage in defence of her dolls. Somehow, it was working. "Ol-cott! Or Colonel, if you like." She sighs dramatically. "But yes, a fairly effective mana battery. The materials I had to use aren't the most high-quality, so I'll have to keep up with the maintenance for now and the storage efficiency isn't as high as I would have liked – but quantity gives better returns for our effort than quality in this case. That valve on the back controls the modes."

"I see." I shake the doll absently. "It isn't going to explode on me it tries to do too much, is it?"

Helena looks a little offended. "Of course not! What do you take me for?" She pats the now-empty battery-Olcott for a moment. "But that isn't to say that you won't explode." She waves off my suddenly-severe expression before it is even fully-formed. "Not a major concern, just make sure you are already channelling energy somewhere before you open the floodgates – the only time it might be a problem is when the energy has nowhere to go and just floats around inside you. If you can only take so much, you might just pop at the seams – we can't really know for sure given that we haven't seen you using that level of mana yet."

"Thank you for that delightful image." I drawl.

She ignores my sarcasm. "I don't think you really need to worry about it that much. The network that I am planning to make will need to be a lot bigger than it is now to cause that kind of damage, and obviously, you'll need to be filling it up at least a few times a day if we ever want to reach capabity." She turns to her miniature whiteboard again. "I've drawn up a map of where I want to drop the first ones, the positioning is a bit precise so I'll probably have to fly around and find the right spots."

I frown, trying to decipher the scribbled drawing that was supposed to be a map. "You want to put these out in the city?"

"That's right. There is a bit of a range limit on Olcott Prime, so by placing points of the network around the city we can allow them all to interlink with each other and eventually be able to access all of them via relay from anywhere within the city limits." She starts drawing wide, overlapping circles on the map to illustrate her point.

"It might be a bad idea for us to be seen out in the streets, the PRT and the gangs are bound to be on edge given recent events." I wet my lips. "And knowing my luck, some homeless guy will run around picking them up to sell to a pawn shop or something."

"I won't let them be that easy to find, deflecting attention from a casual observer is simplicity itself for yours truly." She assures me. "And trust me when I say that I'm a bit more worldly and subtle than most of the Servants you're ever likely to meet. I'll be moving incognito." She winks.

"I really want to believe that, but somehow I have a bad feeling about your idea of blending in already." I grouch, already giving her a suspicious look.

Helena pouts at me. "I'll be making myself invisible as I leave and enter the house, so even if someone was to notice me it wouldn't be a problem." She tilts her head. "You won't need to come for the ones that are close to here, once the network gets bigger I'll need you to come with me to keep my connection up – I don't have any Independent Action to work with so getting cut off from your supply will basically be it for me right now." I note the phrasing. "On a completely unrelated note, I've made enough batteries to last you until the end of the week if my estimates are accurate. With my workshop temple being so unexpectedly lacklustre, I'm going to have to do my research in person rather than remotely. I've decided that I'm going to take Thursday off."

"Off?" The confusion must have showed on my face. "What do you mean?"

She mirrors my expression. "Was my wording strange? The conversational skills from my summoning were almost perfect up to now. I mean, I am taking my annual leave." She points finger-guns at me. "I will not be showing up to work. I will be taking my holiday and following my personal pursuits. I will-"

"I get it." I rub my hands against my forehead. "I don't think Servants get holiday." I half-heartedly complain. "What would you even do with it?"

Not that I could stop her. I could unsummon her, I suppose. But I didn't have any other great candidates off the top of my head that would be able to help me. This was the downside of summoning a Servant for something more than a single task, without having some advantage over them to encourage them to cooperate. She had no simple motives that I could provide for to ensure her continued service, the only reason she was here at all was out of respect for the system that I was borrowing from.

"I'm not sure yet." Caster frowns. "I want to find out more about the world I've found myself in, but I can't go as far afield as I might have liked considering my ties to you. I'll think about it on the road, but you don't need to worry – I'll be back before you run out of Olcotts. I'll definitely stick to my end of the deal, I'm a mysterious woman of my word after all."

"Alright." It was frustrating, knowing that these Servants didn't have the same drive as I did to save the world. Especially the ones that actually seemed like nice people, I wouldn't mind having to shove around a battle-junkie or two into the right place – but the ones who seemed like they had genuine empathy and would have agreed with my plight if this was the only world they were connected to? Their inaction was almost painful. "Please try not to draw too much attention to yourself or your connection to me, especially where the PRT or the gangs are concerned."

"I'm sure that you'll be watching me closely wherever I am." She replies knowingly. "Unless you are going to have anything better to do?" She slides her eyes down to my desk.

I reach over to grab the slip of paper she was hinting at, scrunching it up and tossing it at the bin in a well-practised throw. "No." I tell her shortly. My suspension at Winslow may be essentially over, but I couldn't go back. "W-will you hypnotise my Dad again?" The words are ash in my mouth, feeling like a betrayal all over again. "Not just to avoid the basement and the Olcotts, but to delay any requests from Winslow for me to come back?"

She gives me an inscrutable look. "Taylor…" I look away. "I won't lecture you, but he's going to discover the truth one day. I can't judge you, as I've had Masters do worse for worse reasons – but at this rate he's going to find out by you being plastered over the TV as a mass murderer. You need to decide if he deserves better than that from you."

"I know." I let out a heavy sigh. "But if I do it now, he'll go to the PRT. I can't let myself get captured or birdcaged, so it will be a bloodbath of me running away while summoning every suicidal Assassin that I can to cover my tracks. Nobody wants that, and that kind of indiscriminate attack without a clear reason will get me a kill order. He'll be safer, not knowing until I've already left."

Helena's expressionless face meets my gaze. "I'll do it on my way out when I leave."

"Thank you." I push myself back towards my chair as she closes the door behind her. Back to the PHO boards. Depressing reading, but it was an important reminder for me. There were always people with different opinions and sides in a conflict. People cheering for a gang being destroyed, people grieving for missing friends and family, Cape-watchers, law-enforcement – and probably innocent people caught in the crossfire at some point along the way.

I was too weak to summon a heroic spirit capable of a 'perfect' defeat of the gang. If I had unlimited time to work with, I could have just waited and set a Caster or Assassin to the task – but if I wanted to save the entire world within my time-limit, I didn't have the luxury of going slowly and picking the perfect hero.

But next time… I grab Olcott Prime and drag it into my lap, a momentary flare of energy summoned and drained in the space of a second. One. Next time would be better. I would make sure of it. Another pulse of energy. Two.

Just a few times a day, Helena? You'll be back before I deplete your store of Olcotts? I'll be holding you to that.

 

[Madethistoreadsi]

I would like to suggest Mori Nagayoshi as a Scorched Earth option. His armor in Koha-Ace can drain the land for mana, giving him effectively infinite Independent Action until the land is fucked beyond repair.
Spartacus would also be a good option to just bullrush a gang since his skills make his mana requirements for healing and fighting almost nonexistent.
Or if you really wanna go full-on meme, summon Angra. It sounds really fucking dumb but Angra can kill a "Human" that is stronger than Gil and Herc, because he is quirky like that. While Parahumans might not count as HUMAN, the unpowered gang members do. Angra can kill an entire city within a few hours, and since he is an Avenger, he has Self Replenishment(Mana) so you don't have to feed him mana.
anyways, great chapter, hope to see more

 

[kabs]

Is it me or Taylor being kind of a moron?

 

[Bob Saget]

So much discussion of ridiculous fate "mechanics". My head hurts.

 

[Xjado]

So much discussion of ridiculous fate "mechanics". My head hurts.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, I would probably like this chapter more if I knew anything about the fate series. As it stands? probably my least favorite chapter.

 

[kabs]

I'm always happy when a fate/worm story turns into more of a fate story. I realize that sounds kinda sarcastic, but it's not.

 

[TRm]

I really enjoyed the way you wrote Helena here; the way she challenged Taylor fit the situation perfectly while also giving exposition in an interesting way. The part s on the Counter Force and how it handles thigns definitely seem pretty reasonable too.

Is it me or Taylor being kind of a moron?

Click to shrink...

Could you elaborate on why you think that?

As in, exactly what has she done that leads you to believe that she's being moronic?
And, considering the limits she has been established to have, what could she have done better?

 

[Mentos]

I would have liked a bit more PHO. Bit disappointed no one connected 'Capone' and the Valentine's day massacre. Or commented on a projection named Al Capone at all, even if only to ridicule the chuuni.
Actually, now that I look at the date, the OP for the ABB rampage thread is complaining on March 5th, well after Valentine's Day, Feb 14th, when the stuff he's complaining about should have taken place nearly three weeks previously. The rest of the posts, being on page 9, are fine I guess, since they could still be talking about it, but the OP is complaining like it just happened the previous night.

 

[chinlamp]

I'm always happy when a fate/worm story turns into more of a fate story. I realize that sounds kinda sarcastic, but it's not.

Click to shrink...

I, unfortunately, am of the opposite opinion. But then, I'd be happier all around if Fate never got made in the first place.

This was by far my least favourite chapter.

 

[Martian_Tech_Adept]

I recommend Frankenstein she could help deal with the Mana requirements using her phantasm to absorb electricity.