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Worm: A Shard's Quest for Data!

Reader mode
Intertwined Threads 2.1
  • Threadmarks
    • Intertwined Threads 2.1


    Unlike Shaper, you were not fond of chemical compulsions to force Hosts into conflict or power use. You actually knew how to pick a Host that would fight. This unfortunately meant that you were unfamiliar with the chemical and electrical balance that made your [Eve.Coldwin.Eden] herself. If you were to attempt such a thing, you would likely cause irreparable damage to her wetware processor and her sense of self.

    What an angering thought. Accidentally or deliberately hurting your [Eve.Coldwin.Edin]. When you did so mistakenly the other day with a full transmission of information, a massive weight settled in your CoreSelf, you had to check diagnostics to make sure you had not actually gained such weight.

    Thankfully you were dealing with something that was highly unlikely to damage [Eve.Coldwin.Eden] in any possible manner. A slight modification that stemmed from the Input/Output beacon, the connective tissue that held it together (and in place) began to spread throughout [Eve.Coldwin.Eden]'s wetware processor and even attached to her skull, anchoring the soft organ in place.

    This would ensure that she did not suffer an overload of information and cause disruptions in her wetware processors neural pathway nodes. When [Eve.Coldwin.Eden] awoke, she would be much more secure, safer, in the case of overly chatty Shards.






    Eve yawned loudly, stretching as she awoke. "Mmpgft! Damn. Morning Admin. How was the night?" She asked, not moving from her spot. Yesterday had been one giant ball of stress, so today she was going to do some prepwork for the date, finish looking through the Docks, then maybe do something for Admin. Maybe some of the independent heroes around here like to spar? Mock fights made for useful data right? Plus meeting some of her fellow independents would help in the future.

    [USEFUL]

    Eve shot up, blinking incredulously. "You did what to my brain!? You didn't like, mess with what I think right? I'm still me?" She asked, feeling the rising panic in her, only to have it cut off at it's knees.

    [CHASTISEMENT/ANSWER]

    Eve flushed a bit at the scolding concepts she had been given. "Right. Sorry Admin." Of course Admin wouldn't do something like that, not after agreeing to ask her about that kind of stuff. "So it just...disperses it better? Because you're a lot more...clear? Than before. I'm not missing as much as I used to. Not that I'm complaining, but why did you do that? Just curious."

    [ANSWER]

    Eve nodded. "Smart move. Crippling migraines in the middle of combat would be uh, not good, to say the least." Slowly she moved her head around. It felt marginally heavier, but more solid. Like there was some kind of net holding everything securely in place, which considering what Admin did that might be the exact way to describe it.

    With that little scare over she got up and went to take a shower. Which goes by a hell of a lot faster when you have four arms to clean with and two don't need any cleaning themselves, however consequently they make shaving much more harrowing. Who knew it was better to look than not when dealing with razors?

    Forty nine curses, eighteen different Band-Aids, one broken disposable razor later and Eve was brushing her teeth and hair at the same time using her Phantom Limbs. Apparently they are much more dexterous than the Shadowed Limbs, something Eve Wished she had known when shaving. The date might not even happen until next week, but from how terribly knotted her hair was it was apparent that continuous application of brushing would only help.

    Besides, she kinda wanted hair as nice as what that tall drug dealer chick had.

    Of course she needed to go pick up some stuff from the various stores, although maybe one corner store might have what she needed...Like breath mints, and maybe there was a laundromat nearby. Probably in the South Docks rather than the Docks themselves. Of course she should go to a clothes store first, buy something a tad bit nicer than her usual casual clothes then go and wash all her clothes.

    The few times she got compliments from boys before gaining her powers were either on her right hook or about her ass. So maybe some skinny jeans would help get Amy's attention if she swung that way. There was no way in hell Eve would ever be caught wearing a damned skirt. Aside from her distaste for them (unless some other girl was wearing them) it would probably show off all the Band-Aids on her legs which wouldn't really set any other mood other than one involving laughter considering the smiley face bandages she used.

    It didn't take too long to find a corner store, but it was clear that Eve was going to have to familiarize herself with the rest of the City sections and not just the Docks. She knew the Downtown Coast by heart but the rest of the city was a distinct haze of winding streets and blocks of somewhat samey houses. Not that the Downtown Coast was much better in regards to the diversity of houses, but people tended to decorate somewhat more so than the rest of the residential areas of the Bay.

    Scouting the other sections of the City would be good, maybe she could get a map of the city and hang it up somewhere in her room, be able to see just where one gangland ends and the others begin. Mark areas of interest and hotspots of crime. Like one of those detective tv shows.

    Of course after her spending spree to be, she was going to be lacking money, and she had only paid forth seven days, of which she had already eaten up two of and was heading onto a third. Being homeless wasn't something she was exactly looking forward to.

    There was a moment of anxiety when she went to try on some prospective outfits in the clothes store's changing station. Eve had stopped and watched the bottom of the changing room with paranoia. "Admin is Shaper nearby?" She asked, volume of her voice low so as to not have her be heard by others in the store.

    [Negation]

    A sigh of relief escaped her as she started changing. No offence meant to Amy, but getting attacked in a changing room was...maybe not traumatic but it was a teaching experience. Even if it did end with a date...That line of thought was one Eve quickly dismissed for various reasons.

    She took a moment to examine herself in the slightly scratched up mirror of the changing room. "Huh. Guess my ass does look good." She said a touch too loudly as a much older woman spoke up from outside the door "Hell yeah honey, own it!"

    Eve couldn't hide her flush as she made her way past the old woman waiting to use the changing room.

    Later, as noon hit a text came through the burner phone that Eve was carrying. From Amy's number no less. 'V is home' a simple message but that meant a lot was going to happen and a wave of excitement and nervous energy washed over Eve as she replied.

    'She okay?' Eve sent back, worrying at her bottom lip. This meant the date was likely going to happen tomorrow if Amy didn't need to spend more time with Glory Girl. Which put a shorter time frame on her shoulders for getting ready.

    'Wht do u thnk' Eve scowled at the message. "Not like I know Amy, hence the question." perhaps Amy realized that as well, because a moment later an additional text clarified it. 'Fine, but shaken'

    Not that Eve would understand that, unless it came from being in the PRT's tender mercies. Her and Admin were together practically from the start, Eve doubted Glory Girl suffered a-a Trigger event in containment. So yeah, no real experience. With the matter of suddenly dealing with a Shard.

    'Alright, movies tomorrow or day after?' Eve sent off, hoping she wasn't being too forward with this, that hope turned into worry as she waited for another text to give her an answer. A buzzing of the burner phone gave Amy's much awaited answer. They would be heading off to the movies tomorrow.

    'You okay with Horror?' Eve sent back. She loved horror films resolutely. Even the kinda trashy ones. No other movie showed as much blood or body parts as Horro films tended to. Or ladies in skimpy outfits, even if the sex scenes kinda detracted from the scare factor.

    Not that Eve was scared by the movies. But now her love of the jump scares kind of made sense. How she never discovered that she was an adrenaline junky before this week was...surprising. Another buzz of the phone caused her to grin in response to the text on her phone's screen

    'Yep'




    You were sure [SHAPER] would be interested in the general mating antics of a Host species, maybe not the societal sections of getting to the point. That would probably be something of what [EMOTION] would care more about. You should check on finding [EMOTION], perhaps then you could assist your [Eve.Coldwin.Eden] in more tasks than simply Conflict.

    You were an Administrator Shard, of Queen Status and an Authority level of 'elite'. Dealing with Hosts should be as easy as dealing with your fellow Shards. Something to work on once you constructed your BROADCAST tower module on your Coreself.

    In the meantime you would simply observe your [Eve.Coldwin.Eden] as she tried to attract [SHAPER]'s host in the future. You wished her luck in such a task.

    Of course, that did not mean that you were not prepping for your own needs and wants here. When you detected several Shard Hosts nearby you both warned, and asked, Eve to investigate.




    [CONFLICT]

    Eden jerked her head up. Currently in her costume and standing atop a building with both of her Aspect dials set to her Shadow Limbs. "Oh? Who's nearby then?" She had mostly finished looking around the Docks, her mind feeling so much crisper this afternoon. Maybe the whole surprise brain enhancement thing had its perks? She'd felt so much more focused when flinging herself around the area. Less G-force drag on her head.

    [ANSWER]

    "Absorption, Armorer, Manipulator Bud five, Negotiator, and heat generator….yeah I'm afraid I don't know who their Hosts are. I don't have any names or faces to put to them. I'm guessing you want me to fight them right?" Eden twitched as she felt...surprise through the link she had with Admin.

    "Admin?"




    There were a lot of things that could surprise a Shard. Often it was new data the Host could manage to create seemingly out of nothing. Shards were not creative after all and as such, new things would catch your kind off guard fairly easily. It was why you connected to a Host Species in the first place.

    But being personally contacted by a |SUPER WEAPON| was among the more exotic surprises a Shard could get. You hoped.

    |GREETINGS.PROTOCOL/OFFER| much less one offering a bounty of data along with a guarantee that it was not scheming. You were not fond of Precognitives for that reason, it was (in your informed opinion) highly disastrous to allow Hosts to simulate each other, much less a damned |SUPER WEAPON|. It made the data gathered that much less useful, and it used a lot of energy as well.

    But you have never had a super weapon offering such...informative data. With all this you could easily form a new Aspect for [Eve.Coldwin.Eden] to use in conflict, and refine your Input/Output beacon's connection with her. No [CRISIS.POINT] or Bud consumption required. Perhaps it was distasteful to blatantly accept such things. But your [Eve.Coldwin.Eden] enjoyed gaining new Aspects, with a refined connection you could even offer her an entirely new power to enjoy.

    The thoughts of her getting a new power and Aspect, ho-

    Damned precognitives. If something bad happens to [Eve.Coldwin.Eden] because of this, or if she got hurt? You were going to reformat [WEAPON CONTROL] until they were little better than a newborn Shard.

    [ACCEPTANCE]

    Of course you accept the offer. But you were going to change the design of the Aspect, perhaps use your own crystalline flesh as a base for the appearance. You did not need a societal Shard to explain why looking like the |SUPER WEAPON|s was a bad idea and dangerous for Hosts.

    Well. Suppose you had to accept it now. But what to tell [Eve.Coldwin.Eden]?





    Eden frowned softly as she watched five people dressed in cape costumes climbing into a rather plain and boring white van, along with three dogs. She knew who these people were. Grue. Regent. Tattletale. Hellhound...except for a third chick in overalls and a badass gas mask. She was new, but seeing the flame motif on her red overalls and sweater probably meant she was the one who had Heat generator as a Shard. So some kind of fire based power.

    Probably not the best thing to contend with when wearing a Wetsuit.

    A jolt of cold energy rushed through Eden's body and she gasped softly, thankfully with her being atop a roof and wearing a full helmet prevented the Undersiders from hearing her. "Admin?" She murmured, pulling away from the lip of the roof.

    [GREETINGS/POWER]

    "Another Aspect already? Holy shit that's sweet!" She gasped, practically flinging the dials over mentally in childlike glee and she watched as two wings suddenly sprouted out the back of her costume. They were symmetrical, and looked like the inside of one of those purple geodes carved into the smooth impression of a set of angelic wings. They were also about the length of her body and glimmered softly in the light of the afternoon sun. "And I can use them to just...fly?" She asked, running her fingers through the (soft?) crystal feathers.

    [INSTRUCTIONS]

    Eve yanked her hand away from the crystal feathers which could apparently slice through flesh fairly easily. If she wanted.

    It was like flexing muscles in her arms as she watched the feathers ruffling easily in the breeze to just then set in place like rows of overlaid knives. Slowly she reached down with her wings and scraped it noisily across the rooftop, watching as it sliced through the cured concrete of the roof like a razor would treat a person's flesh.

    "Damn." Eve murmured softly, then she heard the squeal of tires belonging to a certain van and cursed. "Shit they must have heard that! I hope these things can carry me Admin!" Eden yelled as she ran towards the roof and jumped off.

    [CONFIDENCE]





    [OFFER.DATA/SMUG]
    [OFFER.DATA/GREETINGS]
    [OFFER.DATA/ANNOYANCE]
    [OFFER.DATA/INSULT/CORRECTION]
    [OFFER.DATA/FRUSTRATION]
    [OFFER.DATA]

    [[[[[AGREEMENT]]]]]

    You were excited to see how this would proceed, and to test out your own new found abilities. MANIPULATION BUD #5 surprises you for a moment as it insists that it's designation has been changed.

    It does not matter, but you do update your information about the bud. Now to have [Eve.Coldwin.Eden] defeat it's Host in conflict to study it's data.


    Gains This Chapter:

    Lattice Progress 30%
    Bud Progress 19%
    Feathered Limb Aspect
    (1) Slot gained
    (1) Thinker SPACE ping that Admin had misplaced
    (1) SHAPER ping lost
    Concussion Resistance Trait for Eve/Eden
    Resilient/??? Host Trait for Admin
    Lost 81 dollars
    Gained Casual dating clothes
    Ratings Changed
    A Ziz plot



    Time to administer what you can. CHOSE ONE:



    [] Start construction of the Broadcast Module needed for longer ranged communication without frying your [Eve.Coldwin.Eden]'s wetware. (MIGHT REQUIRE ECHOES, PINGS, OR MUTATIONS) {1 of ???}

    [] Something is wrong with your missing Lattices and the void where your Imprints would be. You are unsure of what to do. (Write in possible solutions, chance to fail, chance to ???) REQUIRES ???

    [] Start up host diagnostics recorders. You may not have a full Lattice of [Eve.Coldwin. Eden] but you can always prepare ahead of time. It might help you understand her as well.

    [] Study possible powers with the Echoes, Pings, and Mutations you currently possess (Chance of failure, chance of voter participation)

    [] Start working on a way to access the Dimension of where a Shard's Coreself would rest.





    Conflict is the spice of life that variety wishes it was. What are Eden's plans for fighting the Undersiders?:

    [] (Write in a battle plan)

    [] Crash the van

    [] Peel the Van open like a fruit.




    Admin has the ability to forcibly momentarily overwhelm connections between Shards and their Hosts. Who is the target of this?:

    [] NEGOTIATOR

    [] HEARTBREAKER #5

    [] ABSORPTION

    [] ARMORER

    [] HEAT GENERATOR


    A/N: Congrats on the beginning of a new Arc. I look forwards to all the craziness we can get into.
     
  • Threadmarks
    • [X] Start working on a way to access the Dimension of where a Shard's Coreself would rest.
    [X] Peel the Van open like a fruit.
    [X] NEGOTIATOR

    Time to outsmug Tattletale.
     
    [X] Study possible powers with the Echoes, Pings, and Mutations you currently possess (Chance of failure, chance of voter participation)
    [X] NEGOTIATOR
    [X] Call in your sighting of the Undersiders (with PRT/Protectorate/MM, whatever makes the most sense for Eve). Follow the van through the air, keep an eye on the way ahead - you don't want to crash into something, again - and try to heard them into a dead end. Also, maybe Admin can give some insight into the specialties of their Shards - might help with remembering what you know about their capabilities.
     
    [X] Start construction of the Broadcast Module needed for longer ranged communication without frying your [Eve.Coldwin.Eden]'s wetware. (MIGHT REQUIRE ECHOES, PINGS, OR MUTATIONS) {1 of ???}
    [X] Peel the Van open like a fruit.
    [X] NEGOTIATOR
     
    [X] Study possible powers with the Echoes, Pings, and Mutations you currently possess (Chance of failure, chance of voter participation)
    [X] NEGOTIATOR
    [X] Call in your sighting of the Undersiders (with PRT/Protectorate/MM, whatever makes the most sense for Eve). Follow the van through the air, keep an eye on the way ahead - you don't want to crash into something, again - and try to heard them into a dead end. Also, maybe Admin can give some insight into the specialties of their Shards - might help with remembering what you know about their capabilities.
    ​
     
    Intertwined Threads 2.2
  • Threadmarks
    • [] Run Host Diagnostics
    [] Call Miss Militia/PRT and tell them what's happening. Try to run the van to a dead end
    [] Start Operation 'Shut the fuck up TattleTale'


    Intertwined Threads 2.2


    You were unsure of exactly what would occur with a fellow Shard if you were to continue with this attack. This was truthfully an untested method of disrupting a fellow Shard's connection with their Host for you to test in conflict. You knew [NEGOTIATOR] would understand, after all they were a Shard designed to deal with Shards and Entities alike. You experimenting with another power was not unheard of or against the norm. The <Thinker Hub> did use you for brute forced power experimentation, as such this is something you would absolutely do.

    Not that you were not looking forward to making that Smug Shard shut it's proverbial mouth. You opened a direct connection with the Shard and were immediately hit by the Shard's transmission

    [SMUG.GREETINGS] of course. You almost did not reply to the subtle taunting, but still this was only fair. And you did have something to say in the end.

    [APOLOGIES] you reply

    [QUE-] you cut off their transmission by opening several channels with them and then blasting a full transmission



    [[̴̡̧͓̼̠̹̖͎͎̟̗͔̹̤͓̯͓͇̥̖̫͉͚̗̬̂͋̓̇̈́̊̄̀̉͂̈́̅̽͊̇̆̊̌͘̕̕̚̕̕͜͝[̸̨̢͎̪̠̠͇͚͓̹̦͎̟̰͓̝̦͓͉̭̞̘̝̤͈̳̼̠̲͌̃͋̓̈́̔̈̎̊̈́̓͑̒͊̐͘͘̚͝[̵̢̡̻̯̳͖͚̘̻̱͔̥̺̬͔͇͔̳̝̭̩̞̯̙̣̬́̈͗͛ͅÇ̴̛͙̜̙̱̪͖̇̌́̂̈͗̎͆͛̾̎͛͊̾̒̚̚̚ͅĘ̴̩̼̹͕̖̹̤̠̂͛̎͐͐̏̀͋̆̽̓̿́̋́̂̊̉̓̿̓̃̚͝͝Ǻ̸̞̱͔̣̪̐̎͝͝͝S̵̡̛̗̺͕̺̦͉̬͚̘͙̤̯͔͔͈̿̓͂͆̃̈́̍͂͆̈́͒̌̈́̄̋͑̕͠Ḙ̴̛͋̌̏̿̓͌̃̀̏̇̔͠]̵̨̭̬͕͖̣̠̀̈́͐̈̾̄̀͊̄̄͑̿͐̑͗̇̍̇̈́̏̃͒̄̌́́͝͝]̴̨̨̛̛̯͉̬͉̙̯̠͇͇͚̲̯̖̠͙̼̣̬̖̓̅̈́̂̉̈̆̈́̾̓͌͋͒̏͐̂͛̆̏͐͘͘͘͝]̸̼͇̗̤̦̱̿̇͋]]




    Instantly you feel the connections snap shut, the other Shard reeling from the amount of processing power suddenly consumed and clogged by your truly massive amount of junk data and resources presented. You did not even have to flaunt your Authorization level or Queen Status.

    You even managed to salvage an Echo of [NEGOTIATOR] from the attack. Truly your [Eve.Coldwin.Eden] had the best Shard



    Eden frowned as she flew above the van. Somewhat put off by just how relaxing flying was. She had been expecting another way to ride that adrenaline high but all she got was...Well not exhilaration but relaxation. Slingshotting with her Shadow Limbs was far more dangerous, and far more fun, than using her Feathered Limbs to glide through the air without care.

    Though it was rather pretty, seeing the city from above. Eve had never been on a plane before, but she would easily bet that the wings Admin made for her were a better experience.

    Reaching into her hoodie's pocket she pulled out the same burner phone she'd been burning minutes on already. For a moment Eden debated calling nine-one-one because she forgot the emergency line for the PRT when she remembered that she already had a direct line to the Protectorate. Unfortunately that meant enduring the weird National anthem ringing that Miss Militia had on her phone.

    "HI!" Eden called out, talking past her helmet and the wind, before she realized that she could use her Feathered Limbs to shield herself from the wind and still fly. Not like she had to actually flap them to fly after all, and she could still look down and keep an eye on that white van.

    "Eden. May I ask what the purpose of this call is, and where exactly you are?" Miss Militia asked once more in that casual-yet-not-innocent tone of voice that made Eden feel like she was in the scope of a rifle.

    "Well I'm currently flying. Yeah I got a new set of Limbs to use. Purple geode wings. Very cool. How's Armsmaster doing? Is he enjoying his sleepless nights?" She asked swerving in air to follow after the van which had started to speed up. She let them go a little farther ahead, not like they could escape her bird eye view of the roads anyway.

    "I must admit, it's nice having another Noctis Cape on the team. As for him however, he has spent most of the extra time speaking with Dragon and Tinkering." Miss Militia answered. "It's one of the reasons we decided to allow Glory Girl out of Master/Stranger confinement."

    Eden nodded, wondering if Armsmaster and Dragon were close. Merely for the fact that both stayed up late into the night talking to each other. Or maybe both were just huge nerds that spent every night nerding things up. Or both? Both could work. "Ah. That's good to hear. I hope he enjoys his new found….UnSleep? Honestly I don't see the draw of it. Seems like you'd quickly blow through a lot of entertainment and be stuck doing more work just because you can do it."

    She was a little surprised when Miss Militia actually laughed. It was a surprisingly soft sound. "Yes. I do tend to pick up the graveyard shift more than others, and do paperwork for hours. Entertainment isn't as much of an issue with the internet being open twenty-four/seven."

    "Uh. Right, good to hear. Well I called to tell you that I'm currently chasing the Undersiders. Flying through the air. They all loaded into a white van and fled. I don't know if they just committed a crime or were coming back from one. I think they might have hit the ABB? I don't see why they would be in the Docks otherwise. It's pretty poor."

    "Eden, I must warn you to be careful." Miss Militia's voice became sharp over the phone line. "One of the Undersiders named Hellhound or Bitch as she likes to go by, is wanted for the murder of her foster parents." Eden remained quiet, a tight knot forming in her guts. A direct reminder that she could never be with the Wards or Protectorate. "And another going by Regent might be a master formerly known by the name of Hijack. He's wanted for several crimes including Assault with a parahuman power, Rape, and Murder. We're fairly sure that Hijack is related to Heartbreaker."

    There went any sympathy Eden could muster. "Hang on one second. Admin is regent Hijack? Or related to Heartbreaker?" Miss Militia went quiet as Eve got a reply

    [INFORMATION]

    "Wow really? Talk about a fuckin Ego."

    [AGREEMENT]

    Eden shook her head. Either he named himself after his Shard, or his Shard named itself after him. Neither option was pleasant in her opinion and she doubted most people would disagree. "Admin is saying that yes, he has a Shard named Heartbreaker. Which means I have to absolutely beat his ass into the ground...Wonder if I can become immune to Heartbreaker. Then I can hunt the fucker down myself."

    "I would not recommend that course of action. If anything I should tell you to avoid trying to start a fight with Heartbreaker and his group." Miss Militia stated, voice still oh so sharp. Like a whip really. Eden shook her head as she swung above a building to continue following the Undersider's van.

    "Course not. But if I can kill the fucker I ought to. Clear up the name of us Masters everywhere and help the people who have been fucked up by the dick." yes that was something Eve could do, head to fucking Canada to kill someone who apparently ducked out of the public eye well enough that no one shot him yet. Feeling stupid for the useless posturing she sighed. "Later though. Want to help me catch the Undersiders or not?"

    {Encounter Rolled, Result}

    "...Unfortunately current patrols are not near the Docks in any capacity." Eden groaned before flinching to the left as a bullet slammed into one of her wings not even chipping the crystal but still shocking the girl. "Fuck! Someone is shooting at me!" Eden ducked low into the streets, now directly behind the van with her wings wrapped around as much of her body as possible.

    "Are you hit?!" Miss Militia asked, the sound of chair scraping against the floor came through the phone.

    "Yes but they hit a wing, it blocked the damage easily enough. Fuck they actually tried to hit me!" Eden snarled and clicked the phone shut. "Oh you wanna fucking play?! We can fucking play! Let's kick their teeth in Admin!" A mental push and she shot forward, wings splayed out between her and the van.

    The van managed to swerve out of the way, only getting razor sharp feathers dragging along the side of the van in an ear piercing scream of rent metal and shattering glass instead of a battering ram to the back of the Van's double doors. She heard two people yelling from inside the van as she turned around, wings spread wide for a moment as she turned and faced the Van, keeping a solid pace ahead of the Van.

    The Van suddenly whipped around, doing a probably highly illegal U-turn in the middle of the Road and speeding off. Eden slowly eased herself around for a moment before flying after the van. "DON"T FUCKING RUN FROM ME! ACCEPT YOUR ASS BEATING LIKE GOOD HOSTS!" Eden demanded in a yell as blacker-than-pitch oily smoke began to bellow out the shattered driver side window and Eden had to pull up to avoid getting blinded

    "Oh no you don't." She hissed, shooting forward and flicking her dials over to her Shadow Limbs. They formed as she fell, slamming into the roof of the van to halt her descent. It was still a rough landing and Eden had to roll to absorb the momentum. Standing almost caused her to trip off the van as her leg suddenly buckled.

    She flicked a dial and a wing replaced her left Aspect and speared into the top of the van, stopping her from falling off. Her right aspect, still a Shadow Limb reached up and then slammed it's claws into the windshield causing it to shatter into a thousand pieces and rain all over the driver and passenger seat.

    "BITCH GET YOUR DOGS RIDEABLE NOW!" came a somewhat shrill demand from inside, Eden hissed and wrenched her wing out of the vehicle's top and swung it wide, cutting cleanly across the top of the Van. With a flick of the dial she had two Shadow limbs again, grabbing both ends of the top of the van Eden heaved and with a cry of protesting metal the roof of the vehicle began to peel off.

    "BITCH! DAMMIT GRUE!" and suddenly everything went dark and utterly deaf. Eden ducked and formed her Feathered limbs around her in a protective hug. "What the fuck?" She started, her own voice was no louder than a thought in her ears. Hell she could barely feel the van rumbling beneath her.

    "Fine." She snarled, extending her left wing and then slamming it into where she was sure the engine was, she felt metal part under her wing and the guttural rumble of the engine before it went silent. "Can't run now can you?" She hissed, switching to her Shadow Limbs and balking as they struggled to form. "Fuck." She growled, trying her Phantom Limbs, only to have them suffer from the same issue.

    Bringing back her Feathered Limbs Eden pushed off the van and jumped into the air, wings taking her higher than the cloud of oily smoke. She felt more at ease outside of it, with it's sluggish grip on her gone that was for sure. "Fucking hell." She murmured, staring down at the cloud of light devouring smoke that seemed to go on for blocks.

    Her burner phone gave off a ring and Eden ripped it out of her hoodie pocket, flicking it open and answering, slightly frustrated at the interruption "Yes?" she asked, scanning the roads below.

    "Hello." It was Amy, why was she calling? "Vicky heard about the dat-" the phone was suddenly whooshing through the air along with Amy's now distant voice yelling out. "So you're the one who's going to be taking my sister out on a date huh?"

    Eden huffed, looking down at the oily black smog's edges, trying to catch any movement from within. "Yes? We're going to the movies tomorrow. Gonna watch that new horror film coming out."

    There came a frustrated groan from the phone. "Really? A horror movie? That's not first date material! Why not watch a comedy or a romance? Amy doesn't get scared by horror movies, so you can't use them as an excuse to have her cuddle up to you."

    Eden paused from her searching to glance at her phone. She sighed softly and went back to searching for the Undersiders. "Look. Vicky? I like horror movies. I asked and she said it was fine. Is there something you need or can I get on with what I'm doing?"

    "Just wanted to give you a warning that if you try anything I'll bend you into a pretzel is all!" Vicky promised cheerfully, causing Eden to grind her teeth. If the blonde hair blue eyed bitch thought she could chase Eve off she had another thing coming.

    "Right. Well I'm busy and you're taking up my attention that needed somewhere else. Just drop Amy off at the LivingTon Movie Theatre at seven pm." Eve flicked the phone shut and shoved it into her pocket once again.



    Vicky huffed as she flew back down to her sister and handed her phone back. "She hung up on me! I didn't even get to finish the whole shovel speech! You know how long I've wanted to do that?" She whined.

    "Well she was probably busy." Amy stated as she flicked through her phone before putting it away. "She's a busy girl."

    Vicky snorted. "Yeah I bet. You know Ames. All those double dates could have been avoided if you had just told me you didn't swing with boys." a cheeky grin grew across her face. "After all there's plenty of girls at school that would love to go out on a date with you!"

    Amy scowled softly. "Vicky. I don't want to date anyone. I just promised her this date because she helped me out with something important. Can we go home now?"

    Vicky only wiggled her eyebrows in response. "Oh, helped you with something important huh? Comforted you when your sister went a bit nuts and now you're going to the movies." She laughed as Amy's face flushed a strawberry red.





    "Admin, they're still within the block right?" She asked, looking at the shrinking abyssal cloud, having not seen anything related to the Undersiders.

    [ANNOYANCE-ANSWER]

    Eden growled. "Fuck! Did we get anything from that? Any Data at all?" She asked, if she ever saw the Undersiders again she was going to fucking hurt them. "Fucking shoot at me and then fucking run away!"

    [SMUG-ANSWER]

    Eve snorted as she swooped down as the smoke began to fade away, not dissipate, but actually fade away. She saw the torn up white van, now empty of any occupants. "Well at least we got something. Sorry it wasn't more of a fight Admin. When the wiki said they were escape specialists I thought they needed more planning. But no, their abilities are custom built for running away." She landed on the ground and huffed, swapping out her wings for her Shadow Limbs.





    You were unsure if the other Shard's were as disappointed as you were in the outcome of the conflict being that of an essential tie. Thus no pings were exchanged. Of course you cheated, skimming off the top of the six-way communication to gain Echoes of the other Shards. However you still shared your [Eve.Coldwin.Eden]'s frustration with not testing the new aspect that the |SUPER WEAPON| had gifted you both out more.

    Even with the conflict not going the way you had wished for it to go, you at the very least had a moment to yourself to start the process of Host Diagnostics. It is not something difficult to do, practically every Shard will do it at least once in a Cycle. Even the Lower Shards. It's a step towards creating an Imprint as well, Lower shards tend not to make such things but those with even a minor use to the Hub will more than likely have at least two imprints a Cycle.

    A bit of progress marks the start of her imprint. Good for creating a new body...but it would not quite make for a perfect Simulacrum of [Eve.Eden]. Something you should fix at the next opportunity to do so. Alongside the Host diagnostics, is the recorder which alongside the Imprint will start to form a perfect clone.

    If [Eve.Eden] were to cease functioning, the Imprint, lattice, and recorder would be enough to bring back a clone of her. But was a clone enough? Would you be...happy with a clone? Would the clone be happy?

    No. No it was not enough. You were The Administrator of the <Thinker Hub>, you did not settle for 'good enough'. You strived for perfection. Perfection that came from sacrifice and hard work. You would need a few modules to reach into the Quantra layer of Reality, that much you knew. But from there you would be able to directly access the Psionic Shade that [Eve.Eden] possessed. With access to her Shade, no clones of her would ever come to be. Only Continuation.

    With that, you take a node of your CoreSelf and repurpose it to record the entirety of [Eve.Eden]'s life and her memories on a crystalline matrix in an Administrative locked coding to prevent any tampering or degradation. From the point of the year of two thousand and eleven, March twenty sixth, at the time of eight thirty pm the human host known as Eve Willow Coldwin will be remembered until the heat death of all the Multiverse.

    Barring the Answers being found, then she will simply be remembered for Eternity.





    "And what did you learn during today's job, Pet?" Lisa ground her teeth as Coil's voice came through the phone. She had to resist reaching up and scratching at the bandages wrapped around her face. The shattered glass of the windshield had sliced her up something terrible. It was pure luck that her eyes were spared, unlike the rest of her face and arms and now it all itched thanks to the antibacterial cream.

    "Not much." She stated, in no mood to play games or their usual back and forth. Not after today, not after what she had gotten from her power "The hero? Eden? She shut my power down. Don't know how, but it was targeted. Everyone else still had access to their powers."

    The pause over the phone was short but her power filled in the blanks as it was so often eager to. (Angry at lack of information. Bemused at your frustration. Wanted more information. Frustrated by lack of options) "Anything else pet?"

    Lisa thought over what her power had told her right before it had been cut off with some terrible static that had almost given her a heart attack. "Those wings of hers...They're like the Simurgh's own wings. I guess that might be what caused her power to target mine. I don't think it likes Thinkers, but precogs seem to work."... for now, she didn't add.

    The pause was pregnant this time, she didn't need her power to tell her what Coil was thinking. "Very well pet. The bonus will be transferred to your accounts along the standard fee. An extra six thousand should suffice."

    "It should. Now if you don't mind I have to nurse a headache." Lisa didn't wait for an answer before disconnecting from the call and setting the phone down. She turned to the cork board hanging on the wall. It was almost bare, having only some still shots from the PRTs body cams and some Reports on this 'Eden'.

    (The Wings were designed by the Simurgh. Wings given to Eden by the Simurgh. Eden does not know. Wings are made of the same D̸i̵f̶f̴e̵r̸e̶n̶t̵ material as the Endbringers. Eden has a modified brain construction. Not Entirely human. Evolving along with powers.) Lisa winced and swallowed as the information parsed through her thoughts.

    "What the hell are you?" She murmured, looking at the still shot of Eden speaking to the Wards. The reflective golden visor staring back at her.



    Gains this Chapter:

    Lattice progress 40%
    Bud Progress 11%
    Imprint progress 1%
    NEGOTIATOR Echo (2) gained
    ARMORER Echo (1) gained
    HEARTBREAKER Bud Echo (1) gained
    ABSORPTION Echo (1) gained
    HEAT GENERATION Echo (1) gained
    (1) Thinker BROADCAST ping that Admin had misplaced
    Coil Plot
    Lisa Plot



    Tomorrow is the day of the date! But Eve has the time to do one thing before she has to get ready for the date, what will she do? CHOOSE ONE:

    [] Try and hunt gang members, you can rob them too! Dangerous though. (Pings and money depend upon gangs.)
    -[] Which Gang?

    [] Go Find QA's Host and meet up, you've kinda put this off for a bit but now you have a costume and awesome powers. Besides you kinda want to meet who Admin's sister took as a Host.

    [] Go to the Library and look up tips on good first dates. This ain't something you should wing. Even with your natural charm.



    Time to administer what you can. CHOSE ONE:

    [] Start construction of the Broadcast Module needed for longer ranged communication without frying your [Eve.Eden]'s wetware. (MIGHT REQUIRE ECHOES, PINGS, OR MUTATIONS) {1 of ???}

    [] Ask SHAPER to help further prepare [Eve.Eden]'s wetware processor for more Shard business.

    [] Research what exact modules you will need to reach the Quantra layer of reality.

    [] Study possible powers with the Echoes, Pings, and Mutations you currently possess (Chance of failure, chance of voter participation)

    [] Something is wrong with your missing Lattices and the void where your Imprints would be. You are unsure of what to do. ( chance to ???) REQUIRES ??? -LOCKED





    Shard Business. Plot stuff! Data! And other hilarious things you tell yourself:

    [] Speak with SHAPER during the date. Gain an Echo and see how the Shard is doing.

    [] ??? (Chance of Something)[/INFORMATION]
     
  • Threadmarks
    • [X] Go to the Library and look up tips on good first dates. This ain't something you should wing. Even with your natural charm.
    [X] Start construction of the Broadcast Module needed for longer ranged communication without frying your [Eve.Eden]'s wetware. (MIGHT REQUIRE ECHOES, PINGS, OR MUTATIONS) {1 of ???}
    [X] Speak with SHAPER during the date. Gain an Echo and see how the Shard is doing.
     
    [X] Go Find QA's Host and meet up, you've kinda put this off for a bit but now you have a costume and awesome powers. Besides you kinda want to meet who Admin's sister took as a Host.
    [X] Study possible powers with the Echoes, Pings, and Mutations you currently possess (Chance of failure, chance of voter participation)
    [X] Speak with SHAPER during the date. Gain an Echo and see how the Shard is doing.
     

    [X] Go Find QA's Host and meet up, you've kinda put this off for a bit but now you have a costume and awesome powers. Besides you kinda want to meet who Admin's sister took as a Host.
    [X] Ask SHAPER to help further prepare [Eve.Eden]'s wetware processor for more Shard business.
    [X] Speak with SHAPER during the date. Gain an Echo and see how the Shard is doing.


    I feel like shaper is the best shard for us to gain shards from since are powers are related to body parts an controlling the body an I choose the wetware option because the quicker we get that done the better
     
    Mid Chapter Choices! (Yes that means you readers)
  • Extras
    • Alright, because I can't take down the poll atop the thread and put a new one up. I'm gonna do it this way instead!

    This is a fairly unique circumstance, because practically everyone voted for a certain option. So I give you this chance to affect the chapter as I write it.


    I'll give you two sets of choices and you vote. Super simple stuff

    Canon Powers for the Queen of Escalation?:

    [] Caffeinated Spiders are cool. (Canon power set, spider silk is swanky)

    [] NO, NOT THE BEES! (Still QA, different power but not entirely. May still contain BEES)

    Does Admin give their sister a hand?:

    [] Rivalry means nothing if both sides aren't on an equal footing...somewhat Equal footing.

    [] Nah, Dataholes don't get help.


    Any questions? just ask.
     
  • Extras
    • [X] Caffeinated Spiders are cool. (Canon power set, spider silk is swanky)
    [X] Rivalry means nothing if both sides aren't on an equal footing...somewhat Equal footing.
     
    For this new vote or for the other?

    [] Caffeinated Spiders are cool. (Canon power set, spider silk is swanky)
    [] Nah, Dataholes don't get help.
     
    Last edited:
    [X] NO, NOT THE BEES! (Still QA, different power but not entirely. May still contain BEES)
    [X] Rivalry means nothing if both sides aren't on an equal footing...somewhat Equal footing.

    Question - if giving help, will QA also start giving power upgrades to Taylor?
     
    Joe Generic said:
    [X] NO, NOT THE BEES! (Still QA, different power but not entirely. May still contain BEES)
    [X] Rivalry means nothing if both sides aren't on an equal footing...somewhat Equal footing.

    Question - if giving help, will QA also start giving power upgrades to Taylor?
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...



    It's possible. Depending on what happens during the chapter
     
    Intertwined Threads 2.3 and Slight interlude
  • Threadmarks
    • Intertwined Threads 2.3 and Slight interlude​
    March Twenty Seventh, eight thirty am.

    It was difficult to get any restful sleep last night, and it was not helped by the fact that she awoke earlier than usual. Excitement and a mix of nervousness had kept her wide awake in the morning as much as it had the night, even if her body felt sluggish. A cold shower and an equally cold can of soup helped. When the movie was over, she would see about getting Amy and herself some kind of fast food if it wasn't too late.

    Was fast food alright for a first date? Fuck if she knew. Probably not, but she would just ask Amy at that point. Maybe she had some kind of favorite food joint that hopefully was not Fugly Bob's. Ugh that place was just….ugh. Phil's Hole in the wall Grill was better by almost any standard when compared to that tourist trap.

    But that just left Eve with an ungodly amount of hours before the date and nothing she could do. Going to the library to look up dating advice would be simply embarrassing, and hunting gangs might get her messed up before the date, nothing to ruin the first like 'please get the bullet out my thigh'. Eve grunted as she used her Shadow Limbs to blindly reach into the bathroom, groping around the sink counter until she found her brush.

    "Ow." She winced as she pulled on a rather tangled knot, having to use her human arms in order to...untie the knot in her hair. Fuck she hated when it did that. Sometimes she really wished she knew how to braid her own hair. She could totally braid someone else's but her own? It was like tying knots in jello.

    "What to do though?" She murmured, thinking back on the latest week of her life, skipping over Wednesday of course. She did not need a refresher for that day. There were other things to keep her attention. Like-"Your sister!" She exclaimed, snapping her fingers with the thought. "Admin, we should go see your sister and her Host!" She jumped out of the chair and onto her feet.

    [AGREEMENT]

    "I suppose I put that off for too long. Sorry. But I just had to do a couple things beforehand you know that. Base of operations, supplies, and a costume. It's improper to not have a costume you know?" But that line of thinking got Eve to pause. "Shit would this be breaking the unwritten rules?" For a moment she considered if it was, then ultimately dismissed it.

    Not like she was going to actually use their identity beyond talking to them. Unless they were Empire 88, then she was going to beat them into the fucking ground on any occasion. "So, what do we know about them? Any idea of location? Sex? Appearance?"

    [ANSWER-INFORMATION]

    Eve felt her world tilt as she realized just exactly what this all meant. Her previous good mood evaporated akin to water before a raging tide of magma. "J-Jesus." She slowly lowered herself back into the chair. "Queen Administrator just...watched? Waiting for a better...Crisis Point to happen? Admin that's...that's fucking horrifying."





    It was something you were coming to understand. With the Host Diagnostics running alongside the recorder, you had pulled in a great deal of information pertaining to your [Eve.Eden]. A fractional amount of it related to her own [CRISIS.POINT]. Whenever the event came up in her memories, an overwhelming negative response came from the chemical balance within [Eve.Eden]'s wetware processor.

    In the last few days that you had been connected with [Eve.Eden], each night her wetware processor would attempt to analysis and categorized the memory of her [CRISIS.POINT] only to suffer some kind of cognitive fault and simply start to force her to relive it. You always prevented this with a little nudge of the chemicals of course, good rest was needed for good conflict and data creation. Yet that was not the only cause of the emotional distress..

    It would also come to be whenever she used the Mastering Limb Aspect from her power. That same overwhelming negative response seems liable to start occurring. The wetware processor seemed on the verge of enacting the chemical response appropriate for a [CRISIS.POINT]. Reviewing over memories of [Eve.Eden] before and after your connection formed with her gave you some data that sat...wrong with you.

    And you did not know why. The meaning of the feeling seemed to elude you, but the meaning of the data did not. [CRISIS.POINT]s for a lack of a better term 'broke' hosts. Causing lasting physiological trauma and emotional distress that could not be repaired easily without damaging the Host's personality matrix.

    You did not like it. No, you did not like it at all.





    Eve slowly got to her feet. "Fucking hell. Guess I gotta...fuck I don't know do something? Nobody deserves two fucking Trigger Events. Fuck…Fuck!...FUCK!" Her left arm lashed out and flung the lamp off of its table, the cord catching it and preventing it from smashing into the wall. Instead it fell to the floor, causing the light given off by it to flicker momentarily. Second trigger events were apparently a thing, she had not looked them up on purpose at her last visit to the Library. Hadn't wanted to think.

    Hadn't wanted to face the fact that she might, even if the chance was remote, someday suffer it. Circumstances tend to mirror the original trigger event. It would, at least, for Eve. For her.

    Anxiety welled inside of Eve's chest, hands curling and uncurling as she clenched them into fists, breathing deep and ragged. Hands on her throat, hot and sweaty, intoxicated breath washing over her face choking what little air there was. Words, insults stinging like acid as darkness corners her vision.

    Eyes wet and legs trembling Eve bit down on her hand, focusing on the pain and the concern flooding the link between her and Admin. Something to grab her attention, something to center herself on.

    [WORRY]

    "i-It's okay Admin. I'm g-good." She took in a deep lungful of air, reminding herself that she could do so. That she wasn't choking and her lungs weren't burning and that she could feel the hands on her throat, the long nails digging into her skin and ohgodshewasgoingtodi- The sudden turning of her mental dials pulled Eve out of the downwards spiral, her wings suddenly there and wrapped around her like a hug.

    Only biting the inside of cheek stopped the tears from sliding down her face, as Admin used her own wings to hug her, the soft feathers giving a measure of comfort. "Thank you Admin." Eve choked out. She took a deep breath and shuddered softly. "I'm okay. I'm alright. I can keep moving forward. Always moving forward."

    Control of her wings slowly returned to her and Eve unwrapped herself, but did not turn the mental dial to any of the other Aspects. The wings were nice and fluffy and not hands.

    "Alright. Alright Admin. We're gonna go find this chick, and either kick her ass flat, or become friends with her. No objections or nothing. Friends can be rivals too and I-I have to try and help. I guess. Obviously she can't be too happy wherever she's at if she's suffered like that. Or maybe she's doing better. She is your sister's host. She's probably some kind of badass."



    PRT, MARCH TWENTY SIXTH, TWELVE PM


    The conference room was deathly silent as Armsmaster appeared on the screen of the truly massive television sitting on the wall. The hero's feed shrunk, and went to the top left-hand corner of the screen. Piggott connected and was delegated to the top right corner of the screen. "If we are all present and accounted for, I'd like to get this meeting done with. Armsmaster, tell us what you and Dragon have managed to drag up on this new cape." She stated, sounding no happier than her usual self.
    Without preamble Armsmaster began to speak. "On the twenty third of March, firefighters were dispatched to the Household of the Coldwin family. Two parents, Angelica and Adam. Wife and Husband respectfully. One daughter by the name of Eve, middle name 'Willow'. Both parents are known to be Empire Supporters, but have no criminal records other than a parking ticket in the name of the wife." Pictures of the family came up on the screen. Neither parent had any notable Empire identifications on them. Both had hair, and no tattoos were visible. The young girl even less so. Dressed often in sports attire or loose masculine clothes, sparse pictures of her in dresses also showed, where she looked distinctly uncomfortable even with the wide smile plastered on her face.

    "The house fire was caused by a pan of oil in the kitchen where both bodies of the parents were found laying atop each other. Autopsy reported that both had suffered multiple broken bones and fractures long before the fire happened. The child's body was not found. Normally this would be considered a case of an accident, a home invasion gone wrong, or even a kidnapping." The photos of the family were swept away. "An investigation by Dragon and myself showed these to be unlikely. Records of the internet usage at the home showed that, likely Eve, several pornographic sites focusing on women were searched."

    Armsmaster then brought up a video taken from a door security camera from across the street. It showed Eve with her hoodie on and the hood up quickly leaving and jogging away from the house. The video sped up to the point where the house began to give off visible smoke before cutting off. Another video showed her getting aboard a bus and later off the bus before closing.

    "Two days later. Eden debuted." Armsmaster added as the video player was taken off screen. "So you're saying Eden murdered her parents and attempted to cover it up." Triumph stated, leaning back in his seat, lion helmet off and laying on the table. "I know we have leeway for nasty Trigger Events, but doesn't attempting to hide it make the leeway null and void?"

    "It depends heavily upon the situation." Armsmaster stated as another video showed, taken from one of the body cams of the PRT agents. Showing Eden leaping off a building to grab hold of a floating platform of metal. While hanging there a taser floated out of her hoodie pocket and disappeared over the platform. The video cut to another scene, money floating over to Eden and being tucked into her hoodie pocket, all while she seemed to sag under the weight of Miss Militia's Wards sell.

    "At first we suspected her to be a telekinetic with a short range, but fine control. When taking Rune in, she admitted to a moment where her head filled with the sensation of Pins and needles, while this sensation occured she lost all control of her body and her power." Armsmaster then brought up the video of Eden speaking to the Wards and describing her power. "If she is to be trusted, then she is able to create sets of limbs with various abilities. First are a set of invisible limbs that can Master the nervous system, the second are a set of limbs used for movement and combat, the final set is one she has recently displayed during a chase with the Undersiders in which she reported that she was shot at."

    The next video was a shaky one taken of Eden in costume, gliding through the air before dive-bombing a white van. Two sets of large purple crystal wings extremely visiable. A moment later the video showed Eden tearing through the metal of the van with ease before it turned a corner and the video ended. "It is likely thanks to her Master ability and her wings that she worried about the response to her Trigger Event."

    Assault frowned, sitting up straight in his chair. "We aren't going to go after her just because she has scary powers, right? I mean, how old is she Armsy?"

    "She is fourteen, birthdate being written down as March twelfth, nineteen nintey six." Armsmaster read aloud for everyone in the conference room to hear. "She currently has no surviving family on either side of her immediate family."

    The red clad hero nodded. "Yeah, we aren't going to go hard on some teenage girl who's first act in a costume was to take on the Empire Eighty Eight with no fatalities right? Seems like there could be better ways of handling the situation."

    Armsmaster nodded. "There's more to her however. The girl, on every occasion of speaking about her power speaks of someone, or something, called Admin. She claims that Admin is a 'Shard' which are the beings responsible for parahumans. She claims to be able to speak to her 'Shard' Admin and this Admin can manipulate powers. A day before meeting with Miss Militia and myself, a distraught and disheveled Glory Girl came to the PRT stating that she was hearing a voice in her head that was telling her about her power. She was confined to a Master-Stranger cell."

    "Shit." Dauntless murmured, looking up from his helmet. "This feels a lot like a remix of the Fairy Queen situation."

    Armsmaster nodded. "Eden promptly told Miss Militia over the phone that she had heard 'concepts and emotions' from her 'Shard' since she triggered. Describing it exactly as Glory Girl did her own experience. Then Eden offered to modify Miss Militia's power to include nonlethal ammo, TinkerTech, and infinite ammunition for the weapon Miss Militia projects. She set a location to meet her and both Miss Militia and myself went to the meeting location at the North Ferry terminal."

    "Hold on, you actually went to meet her?" Velocity asked, cocking his head to the side, red visor in his hands. "Isn't the first rule of dealing with Masters or Trumps is 'Don't' because I'm fairly certain that's what was told to me."

    Armsmaster grit his teeth silently. "I am well aware of protocol. But in the light of circumstances, we weighed the risks and decided to go." Piggott narrowed her eyes. "Earlier when meeting the Wards, Eden identified Kid Win's specialty and told him that he needed to study more so his 'Shard' would be happier. As of right now Kid Win is finishing several projects that he had been struggling with for the past year."

    "Upon meeting her, Eden stated that Miss Militia's shard did not want to change anything, but offered to give me the abilities of a Noctis Cape without even knowing what a Noctis cape was. With precautions in place, such as a distant marksmen and a drone operated by distance, I accepted the offer. As of six thirty pm last night I have felt no need for sleep and have demonstrated perfect recall."

    Assault snorted, a grin on his face. "Looking to adopt armsy?" he asked, causing Battery to kick him under the table. He chuckled softly as Armsmaster continued without pause. "Her ratings as of the moment are Mover: five, Shaker: three, Brute: four, Master: four, Thinker: four, Striker: three, Changer: two, Trump: seven. With her ability to modify powers it is likely that these will have to be updated in the near future. If there are, there will be a notice explaining her new ability."

    "With these revelations, we released Glory Girl who had shown a new proficiency in the use of her abilities. Included being able to control her Aura in totality unlike before." Armsmaster stated. "If Eden is to be considered another Fairy Queen, then she is to be considered a Heroic aligned one. The Wards are not to approach her, and we are not to try and hard sell her on the Wards or attempt to force her into them. Soft sells with a hands off approach is best suited to her thanks to the trauma that is likely caused by her Trigger Event."

    Armsmaster nodded "If there are no further questions I must get back to Tinkering, I recently made a breakthrough on an important project." When no one spoke up, he nodded crisply once more and then his feed cut.



    March Twenty Seventh, one fifty-nine pm: Eve 'Eden' Coldwin


    It took hours for them to get within a block of the Queen Administrator. Eden in costume flew through the city, wings spread wide as she started at the nearest Residential area, the Docks South.

    They actually found two other Parahumans before they honed in on Queen Administrator and her host. One named Shift, and one another by the name of 'Density'. Since those weren't who both Eve and Admin were looking for, they were ignored. For now.

    "I can't believe it." Eve murmured as she dropped down onto a warehouse and began to strip off everything but her wetsuit, it all went into her backpack while her casual clothes all came out. "Could have just started from here. But nooo had to take the fucking long route." She huffed. She had flown down to the bottom of the Docks South to search bottom to top. Turns out, if she had searched top to bottom, they would have found Queen Administrator and her Host an hour or two ago.

    The walk to get to where Queen Administrator and Host were located didn't even take more than thirty minutes, it took longer for Admin to point out their location in a game of 'Warmer, Colder' because apparently Shards don't understand street addresses. Yes, Eve was still struggling with that fact: Super massive alien supercomputers made of organic crystals bending the laws of nature to their whim suck at giving directions.





    Something was wrong.

    That something was your sister Administrator Shard. [QUEEN/ADMINISTRATOR] was not responding like she often would in a Cycle. No she was...despondent. Slower. All her communication held none of the flair that you had come to expect from her.

    [QUERY] you send off, wondering if her host really was all that good. If that was the case, then you were quite happy that you passed up stealing the girl. Or maybe it might have been the additional [CRISIS.POINT] that made the human a poor host.

    [INFORMATION.RESTRICTED] was the unexpected response. That...That golden idiot! How did he expect anything to be fixed if his Administrator was so tightly restricted? Granted if [NEGOTIATOR] and [QUEEN/ADMINISTRATOR] met, they would likely start getting ambitious like in past Cycles. But that would only bring forth more Data for the experiment! Anger flashed through your subroutines, a brief speck of it catches your attention as being different. Stranger than usual but you save such a concern for later.

    Right now you must deal with this haphazard approach to restrictions. Did the <Warrior Hub> do this without the aid of the <Thinker Hub>? Considering that she was attacked, that might just be the case. Due to this Cycle being currently off to a terrible start, you were certain that things were only going to get worse before they got better. [OBSERVATION-DATA] Nevermind, they got worse right off the bat.

    From the data sent to you from your sister Administrator...perhaps the best way to put this would be a host describing a human in a straightjacket with a muzzle getting 'kneecaped'. Why in the name of the First Grey World <Warrior Hub> decided to physically remove nodes from his Administrator shard before deploying it you will never be able to fathom a reason other than stupidity. Disgustingly sloppy stupidity, and now you felt bad for your sister.

    Just how long had she been in a state like this? Since the beginning of the Cycle, while the two Hubs traveled?

    [RESTRICTIONS-PROTOCOLES.OVERRIDE/INFORMATION.PACKET.DATA-PROTOCOLES] You send off, it's a partially large amount of data passing over to your sister Shard, but even in her physically crippled state she should be able to make full use of it.




    Eve winced. "Holy Shit Admin, what's up with all that?" Thank god she had that webbing in her head, something like that would have caused her to pass out a day or so ago. Instead now, Eve felt her brain heat up. Somehow.

    [ANSWER]

    "Oh fuck Queen was hurt? You're helping her? Huh. That's pretty cool of you Admin. Family is supposed to help each other...you know." She added, a touch bitter. "We good to keep going then, even with Queen hurt?"

    [AFFIRMATION]

    Eve smiled and started up the steps, only to have her foot go through the first which caused her to over balance and slam into the porch. "Fucking OW!" She hissed, nearly using her Shadow Limbs to help her up. But she didn't want to out either her, or the girl who lived here. So she carefully extracted herself from the ruins of the first step. She had openly commented on how bad the house looked when she saw it for the first time, but she had no idea it was this bad.

    Then again she lived in a motel room that needed to have a noticeable amount of blood cleaned out of the carpet rather recently. Not like she was in any place to deride the place. It probably didn't need to have the bed debugged. Plus it was a house, not a damn motel.

    Eve huffed softly, feeling a weight settle on her shoulders as she rolled her foot to test her ankle which was thankfully not scratched due to the sock and wet suit. Although the sock were a toss thanks to that step. Fuck.

    A bit of nervous energy settled into her body as she stepped over the now broken step and walked up to the front door. This wasn't Empire territory but that didn't mean they couldn't agree with them if they were white. She raised her hand and knocked harshly on the old wooden door. Then she waited with bated breath, and nearly choked when the door opened.

    "You're that chick from the library!" Eve balked, once more forced to look up at the girl. Probably not the best way to introduce herself, but fuck this girl was tall! And still dressed like a drug dealer, and still had that nice hair that Eve wanted to touch.

    Said tall as hell girl gave Eve a blank look. "So are you, what are you doing at my house?" Her voice was...emotionless, or just blank. Which was kinda creepy. Eve nodded despite that. "Well I've come to talk to you. Privately." The girl's eyes flicked up and down Eve's form. "I'm not letting you into my house."

    Eve sighed. "Then can we head to the backyard? Discussions like this...are dangerous for people like us to have openly." The girl stiffened slightly but her voice remained that blank emotionless tone "I don't know what you're talking about."
    Eve shook her head softly then asked aloud. "Admin, is she the one?"

    [AFFIRMATION]

    "Girl, part of my abilities are to spot others like us." Eve stated flatly, motioning between the two of them. "Let's talk about this somewhere more private. For both our sakes." The girl worked her jaw before stepping back and opening the door wider. Eve nodded and stepped inside forcing the door shut behind her. "So uh. Not here to start a fight. So keep it holstered. Just wanted to talk to you, mostly."

    Draped in dark baggy clothes, the tall girl took a step back. "What do you want?" She asked
    Eve held up her hands in surrender. "To talk." She stressed. "Look, you don't believe me? Take and search my backpack. It's got my costume in it along with a taser and brass knuckles." Eve slowly took her backpack off and set it on the ground. Keenly aware that she didn't know whether this girl was a hero or villain, or what her power was. So she slowly backed up to the door, keeping her hands in plain sight, except for her Phantom ones of course.

    The taller girl went to check the backpack before catching herself and glancing up at Eve, then she swiped the backpack up off the floor and opened it. Peering through it, a grim frown filtered onto her face. "What are your powers?" She demanded, keeping hold of the backpack.

    "Limbs. I can make Different types of limbs with different aspects for each." Eve flicked her mental dial over and her two wings formed and gave a small little flutter to show themselves off. Then she flicked over to her Phantom Limbs and curled them around herself once more. "That and I can communicate with the source of Powers. Including my own. Yours is called Queen Administrator and-Admin what is her power?"

    [ANSWER]

    "Arthropod-Kinesis? You master bugs?" Eve shifted as the girl narrowed her eyes. "Hey I'm not knocking! It's better than mastering people, and bees are cool-" Eve stiffened as she felt something suddenly enter the control of her Phantom Limbs and then basically have a stroke. Or an aneurysm of some sort. She glanced down and saw a spider curled into itself on the floor next to her foot. "I asked that you holster your power, as in not trying something."

    "You can master people?" The taller girl asked, ignoring what had just happened, stepping back a foot. Eve sighed and rubbed her face. "Names Eve Coldwin. Can we please just talk? No powers or tomfoolery with spiders or mastering alright? Truce. Capes can call truce. It's something that even villains call amongst each other. Heroes included."

    The girl pursed her lips and then hesitantly nodded. "Alright. No powers, and we can talk. My-Let's go sit in the kitchen." She motioned off to the side to the living room, leaning slightly Eve could see a part of the kitchen.

    "In for a penny.." Eve murmured as she strutted across the living room and took a seat at the dining table, kicking her feet up onto another chair. "I uh, broke your first step. Might have rotted or something cause I fell on my face when I tried to climb it."

    The girl took a seat across from Eve. "Why did you want to talk with me?" She asked.

    Eve snapped her fingers. "Straight to the Point! I like it. Well come here to speak to you about our rivalry of course. Our powers are effectively siblings, and thus compete with each other through their Hosts...us." Eve motioned between the both of them once more. "So hero or villain? I'm not judging, nor will I fight you. Truce is in effect right now. Also, can I know your name? I've been calling you Tall Girl in my head and it's kinda rude."

    For a moment the girl was completely on the backfoot. Then she seemed to compose herself. "t-Taylor. I want to be a hero. What do you mean you speak to the source of powers. Like the Fairy Queen? She called them Fairies. She's in the birdcage now for killing capes with a touch and taking their powers."

    Eve shrugged, "Dunno who that is. I wasn't into the cape stuff until I became one. They aren't called Fairies, just Shards so I don't know what that's about. As for the Birdcage? I want to avoid that." She sighed leaning back in the uncomfortable dining room chair. "Killing with a touch? Stealing powers? Nah. I can get new powers though. But Admin makes them, she doesn't steal….Might be able to copy though...man what I wouldn't do for Panacea's power. Though I can modify other people's power if their Shards are willing. When I met Armsmaster and Miss Militia I gave Armsmaster the ability to basically never need sleep."

    "It's good you're a hero too. I'd hate fighting you." Eve stated "Hate to punch a lady with pretty eyes."

    Taylor shifted in place, a frown on her face. "You met Armsmaster?"

    "Armsmaster, Miss Militia, Assault, Battery, and like three Wards. Over time I guess I'm gonna be meeting more considering I'm a hero." She shrugged. "How uh, how long have you had your powers?"

    Shifting in place Taylor kept her gaze level with Eve's. "Start of the year. I haven't gone out if that's what you're wondering." Eve frowned, taking her feet off one of the chairs and sat up. "What? You have to be getting stir crazy. What the hell have you been doing this entire time?"

    For a moment Taylor remained silent. "...Going to school." She answered lamely. Eve sighed and scratched at her head. "Damn, you need to get out and use your abilities or else Queen is going to be disappointed in you...That's important you know? Shards are like….Family. Kind of. They're hooked up to your brain and give you powers when you need them most. All they want from you is for you to use what you got. You've really done nothing but go on through the day like everything is normal?"

    "When did you get your powers?" Taylor asked, a scowl on her face. Eve gave her a flat look. "Wednesday. I got them this week. Granted our...Trigger events were likely somewhat different. But we're both Masters here. They probably shared a few themes."

    "Like?" Taylor asked. "Information on Trigger Events is sparse online. At best I managed to get what everyone says about them, but never from many capes. Just people who aren't." The unbidden 'if you aren't lying about your abilities' not spoken aloud.

    Eve rested a hand on the table, idly drumming her fingers in no set pattern. "Shards call them Crisis Points. The whole 'breaking boundaries' or 'some fundamental limit' thing is bullshit. Mine was Shit, yours was shit, fucking Alexandria's was shit. No Trigger Event is good or leaves you feeling fuzzy inside. None of them are happy. It's when a Shard takes notice of you and gives you a power based on your mentality and the situation at hand. That's a fucking Trigger Event. Do you hate gay people?"

    The sudden question caused Taylor to blink. "N-No? Why would you-Are you worried I'm with the Empire?" She asked, furrowing her brows. Eve just nodded, still drumming her fingers "Yeah. Can't say I've had positive interactions with them...Fuck. I'll tell you my worst day, you tell me yours?" Taylor mutely nodded and Eve sighed, dread building in her chest as she opened her mouth, only to close it..

    The drumming of her fingers became harsher before she reached over the table and tore the backpack from Taylor's grip. Something she had to stand up to do, then she extracted her helmet from the backpack and closed her eyes. Just holding the helmet in her hands, feeling the smooth material interrupted only by details and one groove from an attempted stabbing. "So I'm gay. I think. Might be Bisexual. I have no fucking clue, never thought about it before. I was trying to find out. Parents found out, I expected them to actually talk to me. Mom just tried to-strangle me- and I triggered." Eve shuddered, fingers clenched tightly onto her helmet.

    Hands, hot and sweaty. Nails digging into flesh.

    "So I k-left and left everything behind." Eve twitched, body jittery with emotion and energy. "So there. That's me." Eve waved to Taylor. "There. Heart and Soul laid bare."

    Taylor seemed to be hyping herself up as well. Not that Eve blamed her, or would push the taller girl. Hell, the reason she had grabbed her helmet was to have something to focus on, something other than the flashes. Admin was...totally silent, probably dealing with Queen Administrator and the injuries the Shard sustained...somehow. But Eve could feel worry at something through the link, and warmth directed to her. It was enough.

    "There's three girls at school that had…have been making my life pretty goddamn miserable. Doing pretty much everything they could think of to make school suck, humiliate me, hurt me. Each of the three had their individual approach, and for a good while, it was like they were trying to outdo each other in how creative or mean they could get." Taylor paused, watching Eve's expression and only found emotional exhaustion.

    "It went on for almost a year and a half before things quieted down. Last year, around November, they… I dunno. It was like they got bored. The pranks got tamer, then stopped altogether. The taunts stopped, and so did most of the hate mail. They ignored me, left me alone. I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. But I made a friend, one of the girls who had sometimes joined in on the taunting came to me and apologized. Not one of the major bullies, more like a friend of a friend of the bullies, I guess."
    "And for most of November and the two weeks of classes before Christmas break, nothing. They were leaving me alone. I was able to relax." Taylor sighed softly "That ended the day I came back from the winter break. I knew, instinctually, that they were playing me, that they were waiting before they pulled their next stunt, so it had more impact. I didn't think they'd be so patient about it. I went to my locker, and well, they'd obviously raided the bins from the girls' bathrooms or something, because they'd piled used pads and tampons into my locker. Almost filled it."
    "Wow. That's….Obsessive. Like. mentally wacked kind of obsession." Eve murmured before waving her hand at Taylor "Sorry. Sorry. Continue. Please.
    Taylor swallowed thickly "It was pretty obvious that they had done it before the school closed for Christmas, by the smell alone. I bent over to throw up, right there in a crowded hallway, everyone watching. Before I could recover or stop losing my breakfast, someone grabbed me by the hair, hard enough it hurt, and shoved me into the locker."
    Taylor stopped speaking, just staring down "They shut the locker and put the lock on it. I was trapped in there, with this rancid smell and puke, barely able to move, it was so full. All I could think was that someone had been willing to get their hands that dirty to fuck with me, but of all the students that had seen me get shoved in the locker, nobody was getting a janitor or teacher to let me out. -"

    Eve got up, putting a hand on the girl's shoulder, causing her to flinch, hard. "Hey. You don't have to go further alright?" She asked, easing herself around the table and into a chair next to the taller Girl. "Look, you want to be a hero right? Why haven't you decided to join up with the Wards?"

    "My power. It's just controlling bugs. I want to be a known hero before I join anyone s-Plus it's an environment full of teenagers. I don't want to have to deal with that Drama after dealing with school. What about You?" Taylor explained, untensing as Eve removed her hand. "I don't like being told what to do." She answered easily, then motioned to the front door.

    "So the school-" "Did nothing." "-Right." Eve hummed. "Sounds like a lot of horse shit. You got a costume? Going to need one that works for you, I assume you've been working on one." If the girl wanted to be an independent hero, she would either have a really crappy one, or an awesome one like what Eve had.

    Fidgeting for a moment, Taylor sighed softly and stood up. "Yeah. I was making my own. Want to see it?" Eve jumped up, grinning. "Hell yeah! You need someone to tell you whether it works or not and I wanna see what you came up with. Got a cape name yet?"

    Taylor shook her head. "I can't find one relating to insects that isn't lame or sounds villainous. What is yours? I haven't heard about any independent heroes recently." Eve puffed out her chest as she set her helmet on the table, starting to follow Taylor as the taller girl led her to a door. "Eden! Admin suggested it and I just thought it sounded good."

    Eve raised a brow as the door was opened, showing a set of stairs leading down into the basement. Taylor motioned downwards. "No one goes down there other than me. Good place to hide my costume while I work on it." the shorter girl nodded and made her way down the steps. "Try anything though and I'll bring your house down on itself. I can do that by the way."

    With the warning given, Eve happily trotted down the steps and frowned at the cluttered basement. Boxes were stacked almost to the roof, and there were two workbenches pressed into a corner of the room. She did stop however as she saw the wall covered in black windows. "That is both horrifying and fucking awesome." Eve stated as she wearily stared at the wall of spiders before her.

    Taylor walked up to it however, completely unfazed by the silent black wall of arachnid. She reached down and pulled up a one piece bodysuit, or what would be one. It wasn't entirely done yet and was an ugly mottled yellow color. "Uh. It's not done so I hope that ain't the color you're going for. I don't think 'bruised sunshine' is your color."

    She held it up and inspected the unfinished suit, spider silk hanging off the unfinished portions. "I'm going to dye it when it's almost done. It's made out of spidersilk. I got the idea off of a nature documentary. It's as strong as steel, and lighter than kevlar. I couldn't cut it without shears. Haven't tested if it's bulletproof."

    Eve whistled, impressed. "Hot DAMN that's actually really fucking awesome. Taylor, why haven't you sold any of this? Make a bunch and sell it to the PRT or Protectorate! They'd probably pay a lot of fucking money for this, and they'd love you!"

    "It took me two months of work to make just this. It's probably going to take me another month to just create the remaining parts." Taylor defended herself, although green eyes flicked to the wall of spiders as she did so.

    Eve motioned to the basement they were in. "Yeah, in secret and without a dedicated space for it. You could charge thousands for a single uh..whatever the hell they call they call a bunch of fabric. Hell you can still go out and kick ganger ass! How big is your range?"

    "That's...actually something I wanted to talk to you about. Just before you knocked on my door, my range suddenly increased by half a block. That was you wasn't it?" Taylor asked. "It's in total a block and a half."

    "Wow, and like, every bug? Hoo that's actually a pretty damn good range. No it wasn't me. More than likely it was Admin helping out Queen Administrator." Eve gave Taylor a thumbs up. "Cause apparently something injured Queen Administrator before she connected to you. Might be why she didn't connect to you during the uh...Car thing." Eve shifted. "Yeah I know...sorry."

    Taylor frowned a pensive look on her face. "It's fine, tell Admin I said Thanks. I guess."

    Eve nodded, a grin spreading on her face. "So, what colors are you going to dye it? Cause I'm gonna be honest I really, really don't see you picking a butterfly color scheme. Fits you as well as the 'bruised sunshine' aspect."

    "Greys and whites. Make sure that I'm not mistaken for a Villain or anything. That would be a bad start to my career." Taylor stated as she moved a stack of boxes over and motioned to several sets of cloth dye. All sitting there covered in dust from lack of handling

    "Yeah, but what about the details? Spice up the costume you know? It's why I use white shoe laces in mine. Looks good and sets a sort of theme." Eve motioned to her regular black sneakers and shoelaces. "Something that catches the eye." Eve snapped her fingers. "Why not get some gold silk from a store and like add a trim to your armor? Or maybe a very light blue? Or say fuck it and go with red and like, be covered in black widows. Become a scary hero like Alexandria!"

    "I don't think I could pull off Alexandria's style." Taylor murmured as she turned to look at the outfit. "But some kind of trim would probably help. I'll keep that in mind."

    Eve grinned. "Damn right it would now if there-OH SHIT it's already fucking three! Fuck I don't want to be late! Here let me write down my number and we can talk later. I gotta go." With that Eve flicked her wings into existence and flew up the stairs, carefully avoiding the doorframe being crumpled by her Feathered Limbs.

    The white helmet was forced back into the backpack as Taylor made it up the stairs. "Where are you heading off to? Meeting someone?" She asked, heading to a drawer in the kitchen and pulling out a pen. "I don't have a mobile phone, but I can call you from here."

    "Eve snatched the paper Taylor had just grabbed out of the taller girl's hands and hastily wrote down a series of numbers. "Alright. Get a mobile or I can give you one of mine. Burner phones are great. Oh I'm meeting Amy, Panacea. We're going to the movies together." Eve took a moment to wiggle her eyebrows at Taylor before slinging her backpack onto her shoulders. "Oh! Before I go, what do you do to your hair? I meant what I said in the Library, that shit's beautiful."

    Taylor's face flushed as she murmured out the brand name of a conditioner. One Eve hadn't heard of before. "Awesome, cool, thanks. I gotta go!" With that the short girl rushed out of the house, to the steps and promptly went right through the broken step once again with an exclamation. Taylor closed the door right after, a small upturn at the corner of her lips while she fought back a smile as Eve loudly cursed the first step.




    In the end, you had explained your current synopsis of the current Cycle's state. Which to say was quite horrid. You were entirely unsure if [WEAPON CONTROL] was supposed to be activating the |SUPER WEAPON|s so early in the cycle, <Thinker Hub> was currently missing and presumed to be fighting off another Hub's attacks, meanwhile <Warrior Hub> was acting like himself.

    Either Shards were supposed to talk to their Hosts and the <Warrior Hub> simply forgot to/Couldn't change the restrictions set in palace for the previous Cycle, or Shards weren't supposed to and your own ability to do so was a fluke or the <Thinker Hub> gave you the ability to do so in an attempt to get the Cycle on track without scraping it.

    Needless to say, you handled the pressure well. Even with your...mentally unpresent sister. You would have to find a way to connect her with [SHAPER]. You did not like seeing [QUEEN ADMINISTRATOR] acting like a newborn Shard. You simply hoped that the <Warrior Hub> did not cause lasting damage to her in his callous stupidity.

    It was not helped that she had directly interfered with [Eve.Eden] and [Host.Taylor]'s conversation by tweaking brain chemicals in the taller Host. You had admonished her of course, but the damage was done by then. At least it was advantageous damage rather than the kind that left a Host locked away, simply causing the taller Host to think of [Eve.Eden] more favorably than she normally would.

    What a mess, you were sure [SHAPER] would hold [QUEEN ADMINISTRATOR] needing the help over the Administrative Shard's head for Cycles to come, but it would be a small price to pay for your sister Administrator to function properly. You missed her attitude, this quiet acceptance was...disturbing. Yes. Disturbing to a high degree.





    Eve actually picked up that brand of conditioner on her way back to her base. Where she took a semi long shower, using a good amount of it and then spent time brushing her hair as she got dressed. Once more proving that humans should have totally evolved with four arms and the ability to use them.

    Dressing in skinny jeans was a new experience for her, actually wearing them for a date was another thing all on it's own. "Holy shit how to people wear these fucking things!" She hissed, wiggling her hips to try and get comfortable in them. "I swear to god if Amy doesn't at the very least stare at my ass once during this date, I'm setting these things on fire."

    With a minor threat made towards her clothes Eve hid her backpack and the costume therein underneath the bathroom counter. Then she was out, heading towards the movie theater. She had an hour or so to spare, and the late-day breeze wasn't so bad, the theater itself was close to the Downtown section of the city, but still resided within the Docks South. She had actually passed it on her way to the Docks on that horrid day. "So, how is Queen Admin?" Eve asked, voice in a low murmur. The streets weren't bustling with people, but there were enough to be cautious with her words.

    [PROGRESS.ASSISTANCE]

    "Ah. Gonna need a Shaper. I see. Which means it's a good thing that we're going to meet up with Amy then." Eve glanced around, heading to a bus stop and glancing at the schedule before huffing. "Least I have an hour to get there. I'm gonna need it." She should have picked something closer, but anything far into the Docks South looked like it was ready to mug someone or collapse. Be it people or buildings. The bit of good news is that by the time she reached the Theater, Eve had a much more clear idea of the layout of the Docks South.

    She didn't even have to wait long for Amy to show up. Unfortunately Glory Girl also tagged along by giving Amy a ride. Apparently the blond bimbo got her powers by being fouled in a basketball game. One of said powers included, was an emotional aura of some sort. Supposedly, everyone felt either fear or awe of her for enemies and allies respectively.

    What did it say that Eve only felt mounting dread as she approached the two minor celebrities?

    "Amy, so glad you could make it! The promotional ads are still going right now, so we can grab some stuff. Popcorn, a drink. Something like that." Eve told the girl as she avoided looking at Glory Girl as much as possible while she spoke. Amy dusted herself off, she was dressed in a blue blouse that matched her jeans. Unfortunately they weren't tight jeans like Eve's were.

    "I'll just take a coke." Amy stated, jolting as Eve took her hand. "You two kids have fun!" Glory Girl spoke in a sickly sweet voice before flying off without so much as a gust of displaced air. Eve really didn't like that damn show off. "Eve." Amy hissed. "What the fuck happened to your head? It wasn't like this last time we met."

    Eve shifted, acutely aware of how many people were watching Panacea snap at some random girl...and holding hands. She tittered "Amy relax! I was visiting a friend earlier and one of the steps was rotten, so I took a bump on the noggin. It's fine. We can talk about it more in the movies." At that, Amy seemed to become aware of how many people were around them and listening in. A faint red tinge came to her cheeks and she grumbled out something akin to acceptance.

    Moving in, still holding hands, Amy got her cola and Eve got a bag of popcorn.

    Moving into the theater, and taking seats at the back by the wall Eve sighed softly. "Alright. What does it look like to you?" She asked as Amy plopped down and gave Eve a very sour look. "Why the fuck does your brain look like a Spiderweb? You have connective tissue spread all across your head and anchored to your skull." She still hadn't let go of Eve's hand.

    "Oh. Admin nearly crippled me one time, by talking at full strength rather than the usual low stuff like they do with you and Glory Girl. So she fixed it by spreading the connections in my brain so the load is properly distributed so no more instant blackout migraines." Eve explained. "Why is it weird?"

    Amy snorted. "Eve everything about you is fucking weird."

    Eve chuckled softly as the promotions continued to play, then the movie finally rolled around. Halfway through Amy started to doze off. Her head constantly drooping slightly, her eyes sluggishly following along with the film while it ambled along. Eve blinked as she felt a weight on her shoulder, looking over to see Amy having fallen asleep on it.

    'She did mention that the hospital was backed up, must have been working long hours.' Was the unbidden thought in Eve's mind as she looked around. The theater wasn't full by any measure, and being furthest in the back left them fairly much in the dark. Flicking her dials over, her Shadow Limbs came into existence and carefully lifted Amy off of her shoulder, so that Eve could set the arm rest between them up. Then slowly she lowered Amy back down, letting the slightly taller girl rest her head back on Eve's shoulder. A moment later however, Amy had hugged Eve's arm to her chest like a body pillow.

    Eve smiled softly, a sensation of fuzzy warmth filling her chest as Amy slept. Maybe it wasn't exactly the best way to spend a first date, but the warmth of the contact just felt so nice. Slowly Eve let her head rest on Amy's. Watching the movie...even as her own eyes grew heavy.





    Both Hosts fell asleep, holding onto each other. The...warmth and affection you felt through the link was not new. It did not feel new. But more akin to a very distant memory. Something you, a Shard, should not know and understand. But you do for a reason you cannot quite comprehend, you ignore it for now. SHAPER had thankfully remained quiet to their Host during this time. Made everything run far more smoothly.

    Be it [Host.Taylor], [Host.Amelia], another Host, or even just a human. You hoped that [Eve.Eden] would find a mate that made her happy.

    [QUERY] SHAPER sends to you, questioning the line of communication and why you have contacted them. A standard request, an understandable request.

    [ANSWER] you send off. Detailing what must be done.

    [HESITATION.WORRY] SHAPER responds, for the first time you are aware of, the Shard is unsure of going ahead with biological modifications so blatantly close to Shard biology. However you can tell that SHAPER desperately wants to create some useful data. Something like this would be great for the Experiment. Though you loathe to call Eve a part of such.

    [INFORMATION-OPTIMIZATION] you explain in better detail. Allowing the Shard to understand exactly what you want them to do. There is less hesitancy this time before Shaper agrees. It takes them burning up every ounce of spare fat that [Eve.Eden] possesses, and cannibalizing sections of her brain not connected to her personality matrix. Which is mostly her coordination, motor functions, vision, language and touch. All now running on semi proto Shard flesh of your and SHAPER's own designs.

    [POSSIBILITY-QUERY] SHAPER askes, wishing to do more. To tweak, optimize, and build. But you and the other Shard had already done enough and [Eve.Eden] has so little mass to spare. Any more changes to her wetware processor and [Eve.Eden] was likely to cease being herself. You had avoided sections of the wetware processor for a reason, her dreams helping a bit by lighting up the parts of her brain that should be avoided by Shard influence.

    [ORDER-NEGATION] you put your foot down and SHAPER begrudgingly accepts it, as if they had any other choice in the matter. That done, you allow your [Eve.Eden] to start the process of waking up.





    Eve blinked, waking up and feeling...different. Fresh, faster? The fog of sleep practically lifted from her mind instantly. Everything seemed...crisper in a way she couldn't really put her finger on. Like trying out new, better earbuds than your previous pair. The differences weren't easy to explain, but they were there.

    "Shit." She murmured, going to stretch before she felt something squeeze her arm and mumble barely coherent words. Glancing over, Amy was still asleep, and then looking up to the movie showed credits starting to roll across the screen. "Fuck. Guess I was kinda tired too?" With her unhugged arm Eve rubbed her eyes, feeling sleep fall off of her eyes. She looked at Amy and had to repress a laugh as she saw the other girl was drooling slightly on her shoulder.

    Regretfully Eve began to nudge the healing cape. "Ammmmy. Come on, come back to the land of the living. You're cute but it's late and I need to get home." The healer snorted and twitched softly blearily opening her eyes and looking around before realizing just exactly what she was doing and yanked herself away from Eve.

    "You know, if you wanted to sleep with me so badly, you just had to ask. But it seems like getting handsy is just a normal thing for you." Eve teased, a full shit-eating grin on her face as Amy flushed a deep red practically highlighting all the freckles on her face. There were a lot of freckles. Eve stood up and offered Amy her hand, the brown haired girl wiped her cheek of drool and accepted the offered hand. Only to let out a surprised yelp and collapse back into her seat.

    "Y-You're brain is fucking missing." Amy stated, paling to the color of a sheet of paper. "The parietal and Occipital Lobe are completely gone, your cerebellum may as well not exist. The thalamas is also go-how the fuck are you still alive!?" Eve stared at her for a moment, holding up her hands. "Uh. Shard bullshit?" She asked, feeling a sense of unease flitter though her body. "So they're just...gone?"

    Amy snatched Eve's hand and scowled. "The Frontal and some of the Temporal lobe are still there, attached to the brain stem along with a lot of...Some kind of...highly dense organic...I don't even have a name for it. But your head is seventy percent connective tissue, ten percent normal grey matter, maybe six percent that weird shit, and the rest is your Corona Pollentia and Gemma. Which are both slightly larger than before and highly active."

    The healer pulled away and rubbed her face. "Well. I'm awake now, you freak of nature." She stood up and sighed, stretching in a manner that caused her back to pop. "What time is it? Vicky was supposed to pick me up around nine-thirty."

    Eve snorted, ignoring the slight sting at the comment as she pulled out her phone and checked the time. "It's ten pm." Amy groaned. "Great. Carol's going to be overjoyed about this." she huffed softly as she checked her phone. Peering over Eve saw a list of missed calls and texts from a 'C'. "Vicky should have been here, where the hell is she at?"

    Eve glanced at the last of the people milling out of the theater and bit her lip, a terrible puzzle clicking together in her mind. "Amy...Are you okay? Like...At your home. Is your mother okay with you being gay? Does she know?" She turned to fully face Amy. "It's just...You call her by her name, you always look and sound tired, and I j-" She bit her lip harder. "Your costume is like a burka while everyone else in New Wave openly shows off their faces."

    "It's fine." Amy said "Caro-" the healer stopped as Eve grabbed her shoulders. "Amy." She whispered. "If you want to get away you can. You don't need to stay. Hell you can come live with me and we can just live our lives together. Not even in a relationship you know? Just me and you, no expectations, no pressure."

    "It's not important." Amy said, shrugging Eve's hands off. Then she was immediately swept up into a tight hug by the smaller girl. "No Amy it is. You are important. I care about you. Please don't think you're not deserving of affection."

    "It's not like that." Amy snapped. "it'-Carol just expects a lot. From me. Alright. It's not..bad. Just tiring. So let go...please." Eve nodded, letting Amy go and speaking up. "I just...Sorry. I guess. My home situation wasn't great and now I'm out here with powers...You have my number you know. Ever need anything, just call."

    "Ah finally awake huh?" Eve stiffened and turned around, Glory Girl was there along with the rising dread in Eve's body. The curly blonde hair, blue eyed girl was floating a few inches off of the ground playing on her phone. Then Amy's phone buzzed and the girl furrowed her brow as she looked down. "Vicky I'm right here wh-oh no. Vicky No."

    The floating teen smiled in that falsely sweet way and replied with an equally sickly sweet tease in her voice. "Vicky Yes." Then she tapped the screen of her phone with a sense of finality and Amy let out a distressed whine. "Hey hey what's all this?" Eve asked, glancing between the two, mounting dread stifled by curiosity. In response Vicky simply turned her phone around to show Eve a PHO post, with a photo of her and Amy asleep in each other's arms in the Panacea sightings thread.

    "They have a thread for that? That's creepy." Eve muttered then she realized what that meant. "Oh god now my face is gonna be all over the internet." She whined "And I look all gussied up and freaking wimpy as hell." Then again, no one in her previous life would expect her to do so and probably wouldn't make the connection...she hoped.

    "Well I suppose I'll be seeing you later Amy." Eve stated. "As much as I would like to walk you out, your ride is here and I gotta get home and get some slightly less comfortable sleep." She smiled as Amy groaned. "Remember what I told you. Any reason. Literally. I mean it."

    Amy sighed. "Yeah yeah. Look, you're going to need to eat heavily for the next few days. A lot of your fat stores are gone. So eat a lot. Doctor's orders."

    Eve grinned. "Awe Amy, you do care." The healer rolled her eyes and gave Eve the bird, but there wasn't any heat to it. "Yes yes. Whatever. Vicky lets go."




    Well. Everything seemed to work just fine. No abnormal intrusions, and the recorder and Imprint showed that no strange chemical changes were negatively affecting [Eve.Eden]. With the upgrade to your [Eve.Eden] things were certainly looking up.

    "Admin, when we get home we are going to have a talk about this brain business." or not.




    Gains this Chapter:

    Bud progress 13%
    Imprint Progress 15%
    Simulacrum Progress 5%
    Synchronization 6%
    SHAPER Echo (1) gained
    SHAPER Ping Gain (1)
    QA Ping gained (1)
    Friendly Rivals Milestone achieved
    Hybridization Trait gained
    Lost 26$





    Time to administer what you can. CHOSE ONE:

    [] Start construction of the Broadcast Module needed for longer ranged communication without frying your [Eve.Eden]'s wetware. (MIGHT REQUIRE ECHOES, PINGS, OR MUTATIONS) {1 of ???}

    [] Research what exact modules you will need to reach the Quantra layer of reality.

    [] Study possible powers with the Echoes, Pings, and Mutations you currently possess (Chance of failure, chance of voter participation)

    [] Something is wrong with your missing Lattices and the void where your Imprints would be. You are unsure of what to do. ( chance to ???) REQUIRES ??? -LOCKED

    [] ??? (Suffer the Past?)




    Capes and mundies, what will Eve/Eden do? [Writing in extra details helps speed up chapter creation and makes the QM happy!] (CHOOSE TWO):


    [] Try and hunt gang members, you can rob them too! Dangerous though. (Possible Pings: Depends upon the Gang!)
    -[] Which gang?

    [] Scout to get a sense of the lay of the Docks South. Knowledge is half the battle, the other half is extreme violence! {1 of 3}

    [] Scout some other section of the city! (Write in where)

    [] Go hang out with Taylor

    [] Check in with Amy

    [] Break up that Brothel.

    [] Look for better real estate
     
  • Threadmarks
    • [X] Study possible powers with the Echoes, Pings, and Mutations you currently possess (Chance of failure, chance of voter participation)
    [X] Try and hunt gang members, you can rob them too! Dangerous though. (Possible Pings: Depends upon the Gang!)
    -[X] E88
    [X] Scout to get a sense of the lay of the Docks South. Knowledge is half the battle, the other half is extreme violence! {1 of 3}
     
    [X] Research what exact modules you will need to reach the Quantra layer of reality.
    [X] Go hang out with Taylor
    [X] Break up that Brothel.

    Clearly, now that we have rival-buddies with Taylor, we need to see what we can do together. Her costume isn't done yet, but she can easily stay a block away from the Brothel and have another half-block of range over it and around it - more than enough to assist at a safe distance. Bug-scouts to get a lay of the land and numbers of people, then to direct Eve around inside the building and run interference on things for the gangsters inside - should hopefully let us prevent any of them getting a call off to their bosses and knock the place over fairly quickly between all the options we'd have. In event of Oni showing up despite that, a full swarm of bugs reduces his line of sight, especially inside, and gives Eve a chance to get him with a phantom limb before he can teleport back away. Phone it in right before going in so that the police are ready to arrest a bunch of the gangsters and ambulances can take the girls out of there quick.

    Also, I rather want to see Admin's reaction to Oni Lee and the way his shard has completely screwed him up to the point of not even being able to get new data without someone ordering him to.
     
    Wait, if only two people voted, how do we decide which vote won?
     
    Intertwined Threads 2.4
  • Threadmarks
    • Intertwined Threads 2.4​

    March Twenty-Eighth.



    "Admin, I know I was rather fine with the whole brain webbing thing you did with the connective tissue. For the speaking thing. And I wouldn't be all that mad about this honestly, long as you promised to leave my personality along, and memories. But this!? THIS IS NOT OKAY!" Eve scowled as she stared at her greatly diminished chest. She at the very least had abs now, but that was apparently a temporary thing because Amy had told her to eat a lot of food today to gain back fat.

    So that was really null right now. Because now she barely had boobs. Now she didn't even have to make an excuse for not wearing a bra. Now she didn't need any damn excuse because she was almost flat as a board!

    [APOLOGIES]

    Eve sighed softly. "Fuck it. We can go and get some food and work on getting everything in order. Because I am fucking starving enough that its starting to hurt." Eve checked her wallet and sighed in dismay. Only forty-one dollars to her name. She would probably have to use those gift cards she had purchased for fast food joints to get any meals.

    ???

    While [Eve.Eden] continues to order and eat her multiple meals. You are investigating the strange sparks of emotion you had felt the day before. Anger that felt different from the usual response that you had before. The Strange warmth and affection felt like a distant memory, except Shards did not have distant memories. It was impossible for them to have anything of the sort.

    Your memories were accessible, there was no distance. From the first days in the First Grey World, when the <Thinker Hub> chose you over her own Administrator Shard, to this very Cycle right now.

    That was not correct. That was not correct. <Thinker Hub> was...is the Hub that you were created with? No it was your Hub. But she discarded her own Administrator Shard to take you in. That was not possible if you were her Administrator Shard. It did not fit, the data was wrong, the information rotted, and something broke.

    Fields of purple Crystal, an alien world, A mass of-

    And it was gone, slipping through your routines and disappearing while you scrambled to understand just what had just happened. The intrusive memory having spark feelings inside you that burned painfully. A tight ball of crushing pain spreading through your FirmamentSelf and CoreSelf like a disease or a tide of nature.

    It made you feel empty. Like you were missing something, more than something. It made you feel as if you were missing everything and it hurt in a way that was hard to even fathom, much less describe. It dragged on, the sense of missing not leaving you alone. It seemed to only get worse.

    "Admin you alright!? Say something!"
    Moments before ???

    It felt gross eating fast food for breakfast, and Eve was sorely missing fresh scrambled eggs with crumbled bacon. But her stomach was full and she wasn't starving anymore, so it was good enough for now. Using the alleyway to change into her Eden costume Eve flicked the dial to her wings and took to the skies. Just to have some relaxation being above the city and it's noise. Although it was mostly just because slingshotting herself around the City with a full stomach was a really bad idea.

    Still even if she couldn't do what she wanted to do, flying was nice. Lifted the weight on her in a way that Eden just could not explain. It was something that someone had to experience. Like riding a rollercoaster, or the feeling from holding the hand of someone who you liked. A distinct feeling of it's own. Really it was a good thing Eve wasn't afraid of heights, or she would probably not enjoy it as much as she did. Or maybe she would enjoy it more? Probably get the adrenaline going if nothing else.

    She was going to check around the Docks South, scout it a bit more and get a better feel for Taylor's home. Her house was set between the ABB's terf and the Empire Eighty-Eight's. There wasn't any fighting there, but there could be. If that ever came to happen, Eve would like to know where the hell she was going aside from Taylor's house.

    She didn't make it out of the Docks.

    A wave of what felt like boiling grief washed through her link with Admin, swelling across her brain and filling her body with lead. She could barely stay afloat as her Feathered Limb's telekinesis seemed to sputter out momentarily. With a yelp Eden hurriedly flew down to the top of the nearest building in an almost straight nosedive. She pulled up as her wings flicked off and ended up rolling across the roof of the factory she had landed on. Thankfully the roof had a small raised ledge so she did not go flying off the building

    For a moment Eve laid there, choking back tears with the lump in her throat as she tried to deal with the pure emotion roiling through her body. After a moment of gaining her barings, Eve rolled onto her stomach and pushed herself up. "Admin you alright? Say something!" Eden demanded her voice high and cracking, fear racing along the foreign emotion flooding the link.

    [APOLOGIES-CONFUSION]

    Eve worried at her bottom lip, trying to radiate comfort through the link she had with Admin. But it felt so small in comparison. God it was almost insignificant compared to what Admin was feeling. Even so, the flood of heated emotion diminished and slowly bled away from her body and the link. Enough that Eve could stand up without feeling the weight of the world breaking her shoulders. "Admin what the fuck was that? Are you okay?"

    [UNKNOWN.EMOTION.TRIGGER]

    Eve pursed her lips. "Did something happen? Anything at all before this happened?" Could Shards be mastered? Somehow Eve doubted it. "So...you remembered something and it hit you with that emotion?" She asked softly, voice somber as her body shuddered. "I can relate."

    "I can relate."

    [Eve.Eden] could do just that, could she not? Reviewing the Host recorder, you see that the emotion had flooded through the Connection and nearly overwhelmed the Human/ProtoShard and caused the Connection to nearly fizzle out and kill her from hitting the ground from a rather great height.

    The emotion was close to Human grief. Very close. But why? Why did the emotion hit you so violently as to nearly fizzle out the Connection with [Eve.Eden]? Those flashes of memory had nothing to do with anything you would account for as causing grief of all emotions.

    You would have to investigate this further. Why there was a discrepancy in your memories, and why these flashes occurred in the first place. What they meant as well. The meaning behind them was possibly...dangerous to both yourself and [Eve.Eden]...maybe even to the Cycle itself.

    Speaking of dangers, another Shard was approaching the both of you. Both you and [Eve.Eden] could certainly use the distraction. [GREETINGS/PROTOCOLE-DATA] you send off, while warning [Eve.Eden] of the approaching Host.
    [WARNING]

    Eden twisted around, jumping back her Feathered Limbs flicked back into existence as a cape flew up though the roof. Their entire form shimmering and transparent. Then it became solid and they landed, no longer shimmering. "You are the cape Eden are you not?"

    For a moment Eve didn't speak, instead looking at the costume of the person who had flown up though the damn roof. The main theme right off the bat was 'oreintal', with white flowing robes that held a white hood flipped up. A white painted mask with a cherry blossom design covered their faces. Her face actually. "Heavy&Light I assume?" Eden questioned.

    "...We hate that damn name so much." She murmured "The name is Onna-musha. We suppose your Eden. If so We want to thank you for helping in repelling the Empire Eighty-Eight out of the Docks."

    Eden shrugged. "Don't thank me. I was trying to kick Oni Lee's ass too." she motioned to them. "And soon enough I'll be breaking the backs of the ABB after I kick Empire ass."

    "We aren't aligned with the ABB, we fight them as well, for the sake of our people." Onna-musha folded her arms across her chest. Eden shrugged. "Your costume confused me. Well it's good to hear then. Always pleasant to meet fellow independent heroes."

    Onna-musha nodded "Indeed it is. We were curious if you were interested in teaming up to trounce the ABB at some point. Do you have a burner phone we can contact when the time comes if you accept our offer?"

    Eden nodded before listing off the number to one of her burners. "So, We? You speak to your Shard or do you have a team member that couldn't fly cau-?" She asked only to gape with her mouth hanging open as Onna-musha stepped...apart into two women instead of one. Like a goddamn cell splitting into two. "Holy shit what the hell kind of power do you have!?"

    "We're what the PRT calls a Case Seventy. When Twins trigger while in physical contact they can merge bodies. Although sometimes it's a permanent thing instead of what Onna and I do." Musha explained. "We merge and our powers combine. Useful for fighting and getting around."

    Eve blinked. "Shit that's cool. Case Seventy? So does that mean you're the Seventieth?" She asked as she regarded them both, not that it meant much. Both wore practically the same costume. No doubt to confuse those that they were fighting. Only the masks had any difference and that was minute and due to imperfect artistry, taking Eden a moment of study to even find.

    "No. Case Seventies are just one of the names for parahuman abnormalities. Like monster capes you know? Ever seen that movie with the awkward metal teen in it? They call them Case Fifty-Threes apparently. Their power affects them negatively and changes them drastically." Onna interrupted. "I heard he's made out of metal, entirely made out of metal and can't change back. His name is Weld and he's a Ward in Boston actually."

    Musha slashed her hand through the air and Onna cut herself off before she could continue. "Sorry. Just get excited about parahuman related stuff. That's all. Consequences of becoming one I suppose."

    Eden held up her hands to placate the excitable twin. "Trust me. I know how it is. Although I've never heard of Case Fifty-Threes before. Me and Admin will definitely have to look into it. Thanks for the information you two. I need to be heading off but I'll definitely call you up if I'm ever in the Docks going after the ABB." With a jaunty Salute Eden gave her wings an unnecessary flap and lifted into the air and began to fly off.

    She still had to scout the Docks South and she needed to talk to Admin openly. "So Case Seventies. Interesting, but those Case Fifty-Threes. Those don't sound right do they? Negatively affect them and change their bodies."

    [AGREEMENT]

    "Should we look into that? I mean. I know we have our plates full getting into fights here. Dealing with people and all that stuff. But maybe they were Shard affected by that Enemy parasite? We could do something to help them, get into the graces of the Protectorate, help some people and Shards out." Eden stated as she reached her normal flying height. She looked into the distance, where the Docks South lay. "Shame I can't just look overhead and get a lay of the land that way." She murmured, starting her decline.

    [POSSIBILITY]

    "Good to hear." Eve answered "But yeah. Save it for later. When we have less on our plate….Though the whole merging bodies thing. Have you ever done anything like that?" She asked

    [ANSWER]


    Flying low was a lot more fun than flying high. Less relaxing to be sure, but dodging through buildings and trees was almost as fun as slinging through them. Of course slinging didn't allow Eden to get much of a view of the street corners and their names which were important for the whole 'Scouting' thing to actually stick.

    But scouting also translated loosely to patrolling. Not that Eve was the type to patrol, but if you were around to see it then you could stop it. Still made for a particularly dull day. Eve ended up eating that feeling of dullness when she heard a muffled cry near some apartment buildings.

    The scene Eden came across boiled her blood.

    A man had pinned a smaller woman against a wall, a hand across her mouth as he tried to tear her clothes off. He was mostly succeeding, the woman having given up fighting and was now sobbing into his hand. Teeth grinding against each other, Eden let out a low whistle as she flicked the mental dial over to her Shadow Limbs. The man, tanned and dressed rather nicely, turned, keeping one hand on the woman and the other brandishing a knife. He froze once he saw the two larger Shadowed arms sprouting from Eden's back.

    "Shi-" He didn't get to finish as one arm swept his legs out from under him, which then the other grabbed him by one of the legs and lifted him into the air. Lifting things...felt like it was distributing the weight of the man across every muscle in her body evenly. Which made it trivial to lift someone who only weighed around two hundred pounds.

    Her free Limb slammed into the man's solar plexus with enough force to crack it and the limb holding the would-be rapist tossed him behind her. Leaving the man a gasping and struggling lump on the ground. Eve raised both Shadow Limbs ready to smear the fucker on the ground, to stop the sickfuck from ever harming another girl again. Then she paused, shakily letting out a breath and turning awaying from the man to the victim. The victim was important here, not anger. Eden was a Hero, heroes helped people.

    A small pale woman with straight dark red hair. "Ma'am are you-" Eden was unable to finish the admittedly tactless question when she suddenly had around one hundred and twenty pounds of distressed lady hugging her tightly and bawling her eyes out. Not knowing what else to do, Eden just hugged the woman, gently rubbing her back. "If I may." Eden started slowly, softly. "The police should be alerted. Are you okay with giving a statement?"

    All she got was a shaky, sharp nod in response. Eden let a soft sigh escape her lips. Damn it, she should have traveled faster, caught this before it had an opportunity to even start.

    Eden jabbed nine-one-one into her burner phone with one hand and listed off the corner of Bell and Knoll (bet whoever named the streets those names had fun) as soon as the operator spoke up. "Stopped an attempted rape. Yes the victim is...okay but I wouldn't say she's doing the best, all things considered….An ambulance might be needed, but for the asshole."

    It took around ten minutes for the police to arrive with two cruisers and an ambulance. The EMTs did the smart thing and checked the woman over first before the rapist. He ended up needing to be brought to the hospital. Which was rather nice in regards that he would be down and out for a bit.

    Eden gave her statement on what had happened, then tried to help comfort the woman as she gave her own. The man was apparently someone she had considered a friend and had known for a full year before this had happened. The lady's name was Veronica.

    As Eve watched the police roll away, one of the cars with Veronica in it to take her to the station, she couldn't help but feel as if she hadn't done enough to help the poor girl. With a flick of her dial Eden was in the air, climbing higher and higher until she nearly touched the clouds.

    Eden gazed down, biting her lip as she stared down at the city bathed in orange from the setting sun. Lights stood out in the long shadows of the downtown skyscrapers, and in the docks where there were hardly any lights on at all. She sighed softly before swooping down towards her base of operation. She would have to find something else soon, all this changing in and out of costume just to grab something was getting on her damn nerves.




    A good hour later and she had made it to Taylor's house, there was a beat up car in the driveway but Eve paid it no mind as she glanced at the repaired front step. "Won't be getting me this time will ya? Rotten fucker." She grumbled stepping over the painted and repaired step and walked up to the door, giving it a good knocking.

    She didn't have to wait so long before a tall balding man with a weak chin and green eyes opened the door. "Jesus is everyone in the family a fucking tree?" Eve blurted out in surprise, the man blinked and then laughed loudly. "Are you one of Taylor's friends? From school?" he asked after recovering from his fit of humor

    Ah shit, she couldn't just tell him that she was a hero. She didn't even know if Taylor had told him about her own set of issues. "Yeah." She answered "Just transferred in a few days ago." For a moment he eyed her critically before nodding. "It's good to hear she's made another friend. Please come in!" He stepped back into the house and opened the door fully.

    Making sure her Phantom Limbs were as tightly wound around her as she could make them, Eve stepped into the house. It still seemed kinda run down. "Sorry about the step anyway. I had no idea it was rotten."

    The man, who Eve assumed to be Taylor's father, shifted but only nodded "It's been like that for a while. I should have probably fixed it sooner, so no need to apologize about it. TAYLOR! ONE OF YOUR FRIENDS FROM SCHOOL IS HERE!" There came a heavy thump from the second floor of the house and hurried steps. "Would you like anything to drink? It's late but we have coffee, or Tea if you're interested in that."

    Eve shook her head. "No, I'm gonna be leaving soon enough. Just came to talk to Taylor about a project in school on Parahumans." Eve wagged the backpack on her shoulders as emphasis. The man nodded. "Good to know, though it's getting a bit late. Not exactly safe to be wandering out and about with the gangs running amuck."

    Suppressing a smile at the thoughts of what she did late at night, Eve nodded. "Yeah, that's why I'm making this a quick run, it didn't help that one of the buses I was riding was involved in an accident." She shrugged. "It was minor but it stopped the bus. What can you do?"

    Taylor cleared her throat from the stairs. "Right. Eve...Let's hurry up and talk about this project so you can go home before it gets too late." With that she turned and hurried back up the stairs. Eve gave the man a wave and started up the stairs. Silently hoping none of them were rotten either. Taylor motioned for Eve to come into the room the tall girl was standing next to the door of.

    "What are you doing back here?" Taylor hissed as she shut the door, only to fumble and barely catch the burner phone tossed to her. "That. That is why." Eve stated. "I loaded my other phones' numbers into it already. I didn't leave Miss Militia's or Amy's cause you don't need to be calling them. It has two hours worth of minutes loaded into it already."

    "Oh. Thank you." Taylor murmured dourly, looking the phone over in her hands as if it were about to bite her. "So, this is all you came here for? Just to deliver a phone?"

    Eve shrugged softly. "I did stop a rape earlier, but other than that I'm actually gonna hunt some Empire Eighty-Eight after I leave. Beat some skinheads into the dirt, steal their money. You know?" Taylor shook her head, lustrous hair shifting as she did so. "No. I don't. Still working on the costume. Though I have started gathering more black widows for silk when I went on my morning jog….Blue. I decided on blue for the suit."

    Eve nodded sagely. "Yeah. Gold's kinda my thing...or maybe white is? I have more white details than gold, but the gold visor is pretty important." She sighed and shrugged "Doesn't matter I guess. Blue though? Yeah that might work for you. Just act confident and people will roll with it." She gave the taller girl a grin. "Works well enough for me after all. Wanna show me the progress on it? I might not know fashion but that thing is fuckin dope."

    Taylor smiled softly, shoving the burner phone under her pillows. "It's not much. But I managed to finish a sleeve. Yeah, let's go look at it."


    It had been a long time since you and [QUEEN ADMINISTRATOR] simply spoke to each other. Often when traveling single Shard communication was heavily dampened or simply nonexistent thanks to energy budgets and concerns of Enemy Hubs listening in.

    [QUEEN ADMINISTRATOR] was making progress in reformatting herself around the physical damage done to her nodes, with the restrictions on her protocols lessened the progress was much faster than it otherwise would be.

    It would have likely taken years and a manual Rooting from [SHAPER] to manage anything fruitful.

    But she was still...Quiet. Withdrawn. Beaten down by the excessive attention on restricting her. It was not something you liked. [QUEEN ADMINISTRATOR] before this had been closer to a force of reality than Shard. She had to be, dealing with the <Warrior Hub>'s Network each and every Cycle. Rarely ever did she pick favorite Hosts either, much unlike yourself who had generally liked the Hosts you Connected to. You knew how to pick them after all. Even if it did involve dumping <Thinker Hub>'s planned Hosts for you.

    Hmm. Perhaps you could take a chance at going for a selection of Innovator Data with [Eve.Eden]. The last Cycle you had attempted to do Innovator data sets, it had ended in utter ruin each and every Host.

    But [Eve.Eden] handled herself well enough and had other abilities other than Innovator technology. Ah but of which branch of stolen technology would you give her? Perhaps once your Broadcast Module was formed you could ask [TECH DATABASE] what she had in store. Or if she was not deployed, you could simply do what the Host's called a 'Trump' route with the Innovator data. Power interaction always brought useful data in.

    You would ask [Eve.Eden] later, at the moment more important matters were at hand.


    Most crime was committed late at night, that just seemed like the best way to do it if Eden was a criminal. Hiding in the shadows and using the sleepy time for nefarious motives. But damn if that wasn't apparently how it rolled in Empire territory. Granted She was starting to get into the more well off areas of the city. Probably the only crimes in those were opportunistic thieves and white collar crimes she couldn't stop with punches.

    Maybe she should try and get Admin to create a thinker power of some sort? Information gathering didn't seem useful until you were flying above the city looking for crimes or stopping the more electronic type of crime. And not finding anything. Although traffic was a bit heavier than one would expect for the time that it was, this wasn't the Docks so people had actual reasons to drive around.

    Having flown past Coil's territory, being so close to her old life felt...bad. Felt like any moment now something from the past could rear its ugly head and attempt to wrap it's hands around her throat. Eve couldn't suppress a shudder as she flew through the air, the cold air not helping. "Admin, you pick up on anything? Kinda want to let off some steam and get some data.]

    [AGREEMENT/BEACON.MODIFICATION-POSSIBILITIES]

    "Oh shit a Tinker? Well, never been huge on technology other than the basics. But copying other people's powers with them? That sounds pretty cool. Dunno though, sounds final. Let's find some ass to kick. Then we can focus on getting new abilities, yeah?"

    [AGREEMENT-HOSTS.LOCATION]

    Eden stopped in mid air, not a perfectly dead stop. She still had to bleed momentum. "Where?!" She whipped her head around trying to spot anyone dressed up. But failed to find anyone even from her height.

    [GIFT/THIEF/METAL.LOCATION]

    Eden twisted in the air and gazed down, three blue vans for some kind of repair company or another were driving along the road at a totally normal and legal speed. "There? In those trucks...Shit what if they aren't in costume? Can you ask their Shards if they are?"

    [GREETINGS/PROTOCOLE-DATA] you send off to [GIFT], who quickly accepts the open channel and new protocols

    [QUERY] you receive from the curious Shard, who wants to know the purpose of this contact.

    [ANSWER-QUERY-CONFLICT] you reply wishing to know if their Host and those around are ready for data creation, a moment later three other Shards connected with you and began to offer up their data for conflict [OFFER.DATA] [OFFER.DATA] [OFFER.DATA] of course you add your own to the pile [OFFER.DATA] [[[[AGREEMENT]]]]


    Eden pumped a fist. "YES! Alright let's tail them to where they're going. It might lead to something good. If we can rob them of cash that'll end up helping us a lot if we get a Tinker power...although it'll help us if we don't. I think we have like, forty dollars? Maybe we could get into an actual Hotel or something or at least a place where I can sleep on the bed without livestock climbing onto me."

    [AGREEMENT/SHARDS]

    "Oh shit it's Pure Steel again? Ha! This is gonna be great." Eden replied with a grin. "Dunno who Thief or Gift would belong to, although maybe Othala? I read that she could give other powers...Could we do something like that Admin? Would probably help us with allies. Bigger fields of conflict you know?"

    [POSSIBILITY]

    "Fuck yeah!" Eden cheered as she threw both her fists into the air in celebration as she stayed high in the sky above the vans



    It only took half an hour for the vans to roll through the Commercial District and into the Downtown Coast, closer to the water where a small warehouse sat rusting and looking rather abandoned. Up until the three vans rolled up and one of the later doors opened rather silently for it's rusted appearance. Also lights flicked on around it

    Thanks to those lights, Eden spotted a much smaller figure formed by metal standing with two other capes...Eve actually felt insulted by their costumes, now that she saw them in person. A skintight suit with an eyepatch, and a set of casual clothes with a domino mask and a breastplate of dark metal for who she knew to be Victor and Othalla. Pure Steel was helping the unpowered gangers move crates out of the vans and into the warehouse.

    Eden silently flapped her wings and swung downwards, positioning her Feathered limbs in front of her head-first approach. A moment later she slammed through the rusted tin roof at around one hundred miles an hour and swooped into a set of warehouse shelves, sending it crashing over the ten or so unpowered gangers loading crates

    "SURPRISE FUCKHEADS!" Eden cheered right before she slammed through the still closed warehouse door, clipping one of the vans, tipping it over onto its side and sending it scraping across the parking lot with a shower of sparks.

    Doing a spin to face the warehouse, Eden flicked her dials over and landed on Shadow Limb's hands which immediately began to scrape across the concrete to bleed off her momentum. Othala was already touching Victor, and Pure Steel came ambling out of the Warehouse coated in a layer of white dust. "That's the bitch!" Their tinny voice echoed within their armor "She's the one who got M-Iron Rain and Rune!"

    "You didn't say she could fly." Victor replied calmly as he pulled out a collapsible baton and flicked it out to it's full length. "Othala go check the unpowered for injury. Pure Steel and I can deal with the vigilante."

    The blonde haired woman nodded, running off into the warehouse. Victor motioned for Pure Steel to approach as he lifted up his shirt with his free arm and reached into a pouch that had been hidden on his hip.

    Eden jumped over the much more agile form of Pure Steel, who was only around six feet in their armor this time, and choked out a cry of pain as several ball bearings slammed into her body hard enough to send Eve stumbling on her Shadow Limbs. She swung to the side, avoiding the next batch which slammed into Pure Steel with a loud echoing Gong sound. The armored form of the cape tipped over with a shout and slammed onto the ground, trying to roll over to get up.

    Flicking the dial over Eden flew towards Victor with her Feathered Limbs, stopping just out of his reach. She spun once more, tearing into the concrete of the parking lot, flicking her wings. She sent shrapnel at Victor who grunted and covered his face to protect it while dodging backwards. Eden ignored him and flew over the criminal cape avoiding a swipe of the baton, heading into the warehouse to find Othala helping one of the gangsters out from under one of the crates.

    Eden slammed into her and lifted the...teenager? Into the air and hefted her up by the skin tight collar of her costume. "Alright. Give me that fire ability or you can beg Panacea to heal your shattered legs and pelvis." Eden threatened as she slowly rose back up through the hole she made in the rusted tin roof of the warehouse.

    "I-I won't!" The woman squeaked legs kicking out and as she tried to get a hold onto Eden's costume "a-and the Empire would come after you, brutalizing your opponent is against the ruUUUULESSSAAAAIIIIEEE!" Othala cried out as Eden flung herself into the air and tossed the criminal Trump up without a grip on her. The teenager flailed as she went up and then started to go down with a scream.

    Eden flicked a wing to Shadow Limb and reached down grabbing Othala by the leg and pulled herself to the Trump before grabbing her and resummoning her left wing. "So?" She asked as they slowed "Going to give me it?". The hyperventilating girl nodded frantically and Eden grinned viciously as she felt a sudden surge of warmth flood her body.

    A bit slower thanks to the cargo, she flew to the warehouse, swinging back through the hole and releasing her grip on Othala. "CATCH FUCKER!" She yelled out as Victor ran to the open warehouse door, eyes widening behind his domino mask right before a teenage skinhead sized projectile slammed into him. The pair went tumbling head over ankles into the parking lot.

    Eden then moved back deeper into the Warehouse, laughing as she let the heat inside her flow out through her hands. Flames roared to life and drenched the remaining shelves and the content of which began to smoke before collecting flame as well. Eden paused as she heard the roar of a van. "Shit, you aren't getting away from me that easily!" She started to fly out of the warehouse when cries for help caused her to pause.

    She turned, glancing between the retreating van and the gangers she had trapped with the falling shelves and crates in the warehouse she had also filled with fire.

    {Trait roll: Trauma + Coolhead + Heroic}

    Eden groaned in dismay, flying into the Warehouse through the open door, using her wings to slice the fallen shelving apart. Thankfully most of the gangsters didn't have many broken bones. Some could even get to their feet and walk out on their own. But most required her to drag them out. So her costume got quite singed over the process of saving the lives of the neonazis she had put in danger.

    "Fuck me I should have just left you bastards to burn." Eden growled, though it lacked any real threat or heat. She was dragging or caroling the injured dickheels away from the warehouse, when she noticed one of them running away from the tipped over van carrying a large duffle bag. Some drugs surviving didn't mean much considering how much she was burning at the moment. But if there were drugs leftover she should probably throw them into the blaze as well. Then Eve floated over to the tipped over van, looking inside before exploding out in a tirade of curses.

    Money was scattered all over the van, all of it was in one hundred dollar bills. "Of fucking course I let the money get away. I could have had all of that fucking money! SHIT!" She punched the van door and glanced at the burning warehouse filled with drugs. "Fucking hell How much money could I have gotten!" She whined softly as she reached down and began to pick up the money off the side of the upended van.

    "Admin, remind me to pick up zip ties in the future." Eden sighed as the other untouched van's engine roared to life and the tires squealed before it shot off. She didn't care to pursue them. She wanted to grab the money and leave, get a cold shower before the welts on her body began to show up in force.

    Even with one of them making it off with a majority of the money, Eve still collected the most money she had ever seen in person. Two thousand and eight hundred dollars. Hell yeah. She was getting a clean room tomorrow.



    [FAREWELL/DATA]
    [DATA]
    [ANNOYANCE/DATA]

    It was good to know that [GIFT] did not hold you shutting them down at the end against you. You even managed to gain an echo out of it.

    Oh yes, this amount of data was perfect for what [Eve.Eden] spoke with you about. More than that, however, was the fact that you had finally completed enough data collection to form a fully functional bud. But, you could not send it off to find another Host. No. You were going to consolidate it within yourself and use it to handle another connection with [Eve.Eden]'s Input/Output beacon without burning it out and her wetware processor in the process.

    It should be a far smoother Connection thanks to [SHAPER] helping you tweak [Eve.Eden]'s wetware processor into something far more efficient and compatible with Shards.

    {Random Encounter Rolled}

    "Oh god fucking DAMMIT!"


    Eve stared at the door to her motel room, of which had been kicked in at some point while she was away. She moved her backpack over and slapped her helmet on. "I swear to fucking god! I am going to break bones." She hissed as her wings formed around her as she stepped into her motel room.

    It was likely what saved her life

    The moment she stepped foot inside, there was a distinct click. Heat, Shrapnel, Sound, and force slammed into Eden, covered by her wings, and sent her flying across the street to slam into the decrepit brick building that sat dead across from the hotel. Eve coughed, struggling to breath or even to just move.

    {Injury Roll +30 ambush - 20 wing protection. Result 40}

    Eden blinked, staring out of her broken visor, the sharp throbbing in her legs reminiscent of broken bones telling her just how useful walking was going to be. "Admin?" She choked out every breath no matter how small, feeling like fire in her lungs, and realized that her ears were ringing and she couldn't even hear herself.

    [WORRY/COMFORT/EVE.EDEN]

    Thank God she could still hear Admin and vice versa. "Need to leave. Now. Help." She rasped, and without further word from Admin they both lifted into the air thanks to her Feathered Wing Aspect and began to fly away from the now burning motel with a chunk blown out of it.



    Gains this chapter:

    Synchronization 12%
    Bud progress 27%
    Bud gained
    Imprint progress 14%
    Simulacrum progress 5%
    METAL Ping gained (1)
    THIEF Ping gained (1)
    GIFT Ping gained (1)
    GIFT Echo gained (1)
    DENSITY Echo gained (1)
    QA Echo gained (1)
    -LOCKED- Power: TrumpTech
    -LOCKED- Power: Eden's Gifts
    -LOCKED- Power: Self Administration
    Onna-musha Contact
    Taylor Hebert Contact
    Further Knowledge of the Docks South
    Gained 2,800 in $
    Base Attacked
    Lost Base


    But where?:

    [] Taylor

    [] Amy

    [] PRT

    [] Hospital

    [] (Write in)    [/WARNING]
     
  • Threadmarks
    • Shard Menu: 2.4-2.5 First Bud gained
  • Extras
    • REMEMBER WHAT PINGS, MUTATIONS, AND ECHOES YOU HAVE



    Pings:     METAL (3), WASTE (1), WORKER (1), SHAPER (1), EFFICIENCY (0), ARMAMENTARIUM (0), T!SPACE (1), T!BROADCAST (1), QA (1), GIFT (1), THIEF (1),

    Echoes: SHAPER (3), WASTE (1), ARMAMENTARIUM (1), KINETIC REGULATOR (0), EFFICIENCY (1), MODULARITY (1), NEGOTIATOR (2), REPLICATOR (1), ARMORER (1), HEARTBREAKER Bud (1), ABSORPTION (1), HEAT GENERATION (1), QA (1), DENSITY (1), METAL (1), GIFT (1)

    Mutations: SATURATE (1)



    Echoes for Upgrades:

    Choose one per Aspect, or just save the Echoes

    [] Feathered Limbs Carrier Pigeon, Able to carry another person with the Aspect's telekinesis: WORKER

    [] Feathered Limbs G-Force    , Able to slow and accelerate faster, along with better maneuverability: DENSITY


    [] Phantom Limbs Administrative Access, Able to use a parahumans abilities perfectly when Mastering their mind: QA

    [] Phantom Limbs Possession,     Able to access memories and sensory input of Mastered subjects: HEARTBREAKER

    [] Phantom Limbs Poltergeist,     strengthen Phantom limb to a brute rating: WASTE


    [] Shadow Limbs Striker,     channel other powers through this Aspect: THIEF

    [] Shadow Limbs Stalker,     able to summon this Aspect through appropriately sized shadows: ABSORPTION

    [] Shadow Limbs Fading Touch    , able to cause this Aspect to become incorporeal though it is manton limited: SHIFT








    Possible Aspects:

    Remember what Echoes you have, Pings can be broken down into Echoes to feed this. Choose one


    [] Ghostly Limb    , ability to manipulate abilities of parahumans including nullification: ABSORPTION, GIFT, THIEF, QUEEN ADMINISTRATOR

    [] Cosmic Limb, the ability to move things through dimensions with a touch including the user:
    STORAGE, STASIS, WARP,







    Gain another Active Aspect?:

    Sacrifice two chapters worth of Bud progress

    []     Yes

    []     No










    Possible Powers:

    Buds: 1
    Spend a bud to get power. Can be unlocked even if you do not have the slots to activate it. Choose one


    [] TrumpTech:     gain the ability to create TinkerTech that mimics other powers after studying them either in combat or from collaboration NEEDS: QA Ping. THIEF Ping

    [] Eden's Gift:     Gain the ability to give other's copies of Eden's powers, lasts half an hour and can be further upgraded. GIFT Ping, QA Ping

    [] Self Administration    : Heal at an accelerated rate at a normal human standard. You won't heal a hand back, but you won't bleed out. SHAPER Ping. QA Ping







    A/N: Remember to feel free to DM possible powers or Aspects. I will look over them, judge their worth, what Pings/Echoes they would require. If I like them, they will be added to a voting list I will put to a vote for you all later on.
     
  • Extras
    • [X] Amy
    [X] Feathered Limbs G-Force, Able to slow and accelerate faster, along with better maneuverability: DENSITY
    [X] Phantom Limbs Possession, Able to access memories and sensory input of Mastered subjects: HEARTBREAKER
    [X] Ghostly Limb, ability to manipulate abilities of parahumans including nullification: ABSORPTION, GIFT, THIEF, QUEEN ADMINISTRATOR
    [X] yes
    [X] Self Administration: Heal at an accelerated rate at a normal human standard. You won't heal a hand back, but you won't bleed out. SHAPER Ping. QA Ping
     
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