Chapter 2: First Days of a New Life
Part 1
Motion. The sound of wind, pressure on my back, my hair whipping around my face.
Eyes opening, I found myself dropping out of the air, looking up at a big, visible break in the sky. Space folded, energized, and shifted through things only describable as 'other'. A gaping wound blooming out like the mix of a flower budding and the inversion of a whirlpool, long strands of distorted space retreating up from all around me. Peeling back like when water droplets tried to break off from a stream, only in reverse.
I was in freefall, which really should have freaked me out since that was one of those little primal fears that were really, really hardwired into the human psyche.
But, by this point? Nah, if anything this was fucking relaxing. And a lazy glance over my side showed I had plenty of time until impact would be a problem.
So I just let myself drop, both to get some distance from the big dramatic portal, and just to take in the sensation of the wind whipping around me. Spreading out my arms and legs (well leg), out into the sky starfish style, like I was falling back into the most comfortable bed in the world.
There was zero effort involved in falling. Lots in landing, but in just falling? No, all you had to do was… nothing. There was no need to find anything, no need to move, you didn't even need to try and keep standing. It was more a state of being than an action. I just let go and allow the wind to rip across me, dragging away the countless aches, worries, and responsibilities for a moment. Soak in the beauty of the night sky as my clothes and hair billowed around me.
Just me in the sky vibing.
On my own.
Of course, I didn't want to let go of all of responsibilities, so I did have to stop falling before I actually went splat, as tempting as that particular intrusive thought was. So instead I went ahead and cast Featherfall.
My falling speed didn't slow, in fact it more than doubled, shifting from what wasn't even terminal velocity to nearly two hundred and sixty MPH straight down.
And then not so straight down as I curved myself down towards one of the skyscrapers nearby. Triggering Mask as I accelerated to try and reduce the chance of being spotted or, more likely given the circumstances, shake whoever was following me.
It was times like this I really wished I'd invested more into Blink. Teleportation was a lot better for slipping tails. Unfortunately it was going to remain 'sealed' to a reduced form of its most basic use for a few more months yet, though with luck I'd be able to refine it before the show really got on the road.
Until then, I had a lot of scut work to do. Scout out the local powers, set up an actual base of operations beyond flash-conjured temporary shelters, start setting up supply lines, get eyes on the target, tailor supply lines to handle the target, then when ready, do the fucking job.
Also maybe do some of the local capes and robbers bullshit. You know, just to destress a little.
"Brockton Fucking Bay," I exhaled in a mild curse. Worm. Of course it was Worm.
I had not wanted to go to Worm. Nope, originally, I'd been planning on heading to Arknights of all places. Which… Alright, admittedly, Tiberium Furries wasn't much better, since it had its own share of lovecraftian nightmares, government/corporate conspiracies, and war crime happy psychopaths with way too much personal power… But at least it had cool anime fights, interesting sights and cultures to explore, and groups of genuine good, well-meaning people trying to fix all that crap.
Plus, in Arknights, at least half the war crimes only happened because of actual wars. One with actual real social, economic, and political reasons for being waged! Which you know, somehow made things a bit easier to swallow.
I sighed, "At least it's not Marvel."
Checking around for security cameras, I found a nice little blindspot, then recast my Mask Cantrip at a lower level that would let technological devices sense my presence.
That done, I unzipped and dug through my pockets (zippable pockets are a must if you're a flier), and pulled out a phone (not my Company Phone, but an entirely 'normal' smartphone I'd picked up back while doing my Final). One I was now going to have a particularly annoying time recharging. Still, for the short term, it was an absolute godsend to have, because this high up? I was willing to bet…
Bingo. Unsecured wifi. Thank you 2011 internet security standards.
Not compatible with the OS of my phone of course, but that's what magic, more specifically the Tongues cantrip I'd painstakingly enchanted into said phone was for.
With that, I was into the local net. A few button strokes and waiting symbols later, I had a map of Brockton Bay. Several important addresses, and a few equally important phone numbers.
Vundabar!
Shame this wasn't the Medhal building. I'd probably have graffitied the hell out of it for the lulz if it was.
Though it wasn't far away… Did I waste precious time doing that? Was I going to be that sort of Hero or Villain in this world's distorted game of Capes and Robbers?
Maybe later. For the moment, I had a teenager to make sure made it through the rest of the night un-barbecued. Something that she managed in the original timeline but well… Dimensional variations 101. Never assume things will go to canon in any reality you interact with. Many worlds had forces actively guiding events, but even they could be subject to the butterfly effect.
"Right, time to go slay a dragon," I grumbled.
Damn it. I'd wanted to be a Dragon! Ugh… at least I'd get a chance once the mission was done, and my primary contract was 'updated'.
Well, unless I figured something out beforehand. Plenty of ways to scale a mountain after all.
And speaking of scales…
Pocketing my phone, I recast Mask at full intensity, making sure no security cameras caught sight of me leaving. I then triggered one more cantrip, my outfit vanishing as it was replaced with something a bit more… setting appropriate. A navy-blue armored jumpsuit with dirty gold trim, buckles and other highlights, a ruby-red scale patterned, armored coat over it, capped off with a full encompassing, Kamen Rider inspired helmet, the lower half blue and gold, with the top evocative of a triangular browed, back-bending 'wizard' cap.
I flexed my hand, checking the mobility, then looked down at how well it meshed over and hid the artificial nature of my left leg, then took a deep breath to see how it affected that… Eventually nodding as it passed inspection, "Perfect."
That done, I lifted myself back up. 'Featherfall was still active, and I shot out across the sky towards the Ruby Dreams Casino.
Part 2
One other big advantage of being in Worm? Clear skies. Or, at least, close enough to it. No weird, art-deco, clarktech sky trains, no bullshit anime swordsmen with their fucking sword beams, no functionally invincible vampires with quantum laser canons! Hell, the local cops didn't even have high velocity missile launchers!
Just me in the sky with a few fellow costumed weirdos who could fly and/or shoot lasers, whatever flak the ground could spit up at us, and a half-assed rage dragon who could only fly some of the time.
All things considered? I was, effectively free and fucking clear.
Which meant I didn't need to worry about drawing attention. Hell, in this case? Drawing aggro was actually preferable.
And that meant I could do something I'd only dreamed of doing since my dime of service back in the Litterbox.
Launching myself up into a parabolic arch, I cut thrust for a moment, twisting around to shift my center of balance just a bit in front of me as I dug out my Company Phone, and layered a few quick cantrips. Toughness and Stabilize, in case I ended up eating concrete at two hundred eighty miles an hour.
I also cued up Minor Illusion, just for funzies. Blowing up that Cantrip as big and loud as I could make it while 'tying it' to my phone in a way that'd just amplify any bit of sound it made. A simple trick I learned back in The Final that I used back when I didn't have time to come up with something clever, or wanted to hear something being said outside of my range of hearing.
A side effect of the training needed to help with that last bit, while I hadn't mastered the cantrip, I'd trained the range of my Minor Illusion contract up to affect a very large range of space. All of which was now set to beat out Kingslayer, the live in Tokyo version.
Because if I had to make a loud entrance, I might as well make the most of it.
The music kicked in right as I started passing between skyscrapers, twisting around as I started blasting up and down at a shallow arch, windows vibrating dangerously from the mixture of sound and gravitational distortion.
'Turn Right' the map helpfully displayed.
I banked left, giving me plenty of space for the sudden turn, only to whip crack back right the next second as I twisted back to the left a literal second later, shooting wide enough to nearly graze a billboard, the wind currents nearly tugging me into a crash.
Yeah… this wasn't safe. I really should slow down. I had armor, but this was stupid fast.
However… Nah. Too much fun! I had contingencies and I hadn't had this much fun in a while.
In fact… I fingered the mental trigger of Haste and considered going even faster.
Not yet. That was too good an ace to spend this early.
I pulled up in a curve, cutting my thrust again, as twisted into a flip, The city swinging into view.
Lots of flyers where I had been, but lucky me, none of them seemed headed my way-
Wait, speak of the devil, one particularly flickering light was now turning to my direction. Probably a call in from someone wondering what the music was.
Perfect.
Where was that dragon?
Completing my loop I dove back down through the streets, zipping between buildings well clear of traffic, passing over shorter buildings in a quick bypass in my vaguely diagonal path, before kicking up into a third flip to get another bird's eye view.
Come on… Where are you? Give me a roar damn it. Give me some fire. Hell, I'd settle for massed gunfire from your mooks. Show me where you are, you big scaled bastard!?
My eye caught sight of flickering yellow light reflected off smoke in the distance.
There.
Pulling up over the roof level, I made as direct a line to them as I could, cutting across a rooftop basketball court, sending a patio umbella flying, and scaring the living fuck out of countless napping pidgeons as I hugged a few buildings a bit closer than I probably should have.
The moment I saw fire I dove down right to the street level. I needed to, there wasn't a huge amount of smoke for the fire, but the aerodynamics of the street were sweeping it over the roofs like a curtain. Though there were also plenty of bug dark clouds billowing-
Oh wait, that was probably Grue.
Wait, what? Why the fuck was Grue here already?
I pulled back my speed enough to be able to maneuver. Immediately picking up on the roar of flames, roars of beasts, and barks of, apparently, fully functional guns and rifles, which was a bad sign, because if I remembered right Taylor had jammed those before the real fight even started.
And that was not Oni-Lee who'd just thrown himself out of the darkness whirling around in confusion and outrage.
Alright, butterflies. I'd expected that. My entrance portal alone could have caused it. Now I needed to deal with whatever changes happened as a result.
The figure ejected from the smoke, the same scaly bastard I'd been watching for, was starting to ramp up. He was the kind of enemy that got stronger over the course of a fight, but hadn't hit the point of being a real juggernaut yet. He was almost twice my height, partially covered in silver scales and on fire, but far from the worst I'd seen even in the last week-
Wait, fuck, I could see growths starting on his back. That was bad.
Shifting my approach angle, I boosted to full speed, flipped around to face him leg first, and cast FIST, shouting out, "Rider-!"
Lung's head swiveled to face me, neck extended out despite being still mostly human in posture, "Wh-"
"-KICK!" I roared out as I crashed into the parahuman's scaled chest at full speed, body now harder than iron, and impacting with sixty times the force I should have.
A cannonball probably would have done less damage. I caught a glimpse of his chest visibly caving in as he was launched back into and through the darkness, maybe dead.
Who was I kidding, I wasn't that lucky.
I swivel my head, scanning the buildings. My fake eye could see human shaped heat signatures-
BANG! BANG! BANG!
RAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!
Pop Pop Pop!
Who were shooting at me, mostly missing-
Fuck!
-Me. But some had better accuracy than others!
I threw a Firebolt, wide spread, short burn, just a little sticky, only a few hundred degrees, but all encompassing, bathing half the group in a flashfire that covered every inch of of their bodies and faces.
Needless to say, they did not like that, letting out a group of outright horrific screams as they fell over, skin red, clothes smoking, but probably alive, if maybe wishing they weren't.
The rest, wizely, started jumping for cover.
Feeling Stabilize beginning to work its magic on the bruises left over from the lucky hits, I swept the streets again. Where was she? I really wished Steven was here, or even Max, they put a lot more into sensory stuff than I did. I had cantrips for that, but none were trained up-
A sudden impact crashed into my back, a split moment before something stabbed into my neck.
I reacted instantly, setting off another Firebolt High explosive, point blank, hotter than the surface of the sun. Lucky, my armor held. Less lucky, I was now dealing with this asshole too!
Oni-Lee, a teleporter who made clones. One of him appeared in a new location, while the one left behind poofed into dust shortly after. Which one was the clone was debated, but the way his mind was seemingly degraded by over use of his power, had both obvious and unsettling implications.
POP P-POP P-P-POP!
Also a pain in the ass, since it gave him effectively limitless ammunition, let him do reckless charges at minimal risk, and of course-
I whirled around sweeping out both an arm and leg infused with Fist ripping another set of clones apart in dust, right as they tried to latch on, the grenades they were wearing poofing with them even as the 'spoons' of the explosives flew loose.
Oni-Lee's power also let him function as a serial suicide bomber. A rare and very annoying powerset to counter.
But there were ways to counter it.
I dove into the darkness.
And good gods that was disorienting. I had to cut from 'Soar' to 'Drift' so I didn't immediately faceplant into a wall… or the ground, or even back out into the air. No wonder Lung missed whatever lunge he made. Eyes, hearing, smell, even my sense of balance was muffled. "Grue!" I yelled out, barely hearing my own voice. "Let's team up! You're not my enemy, and I'm not yours! I'm fireproof and hit hard as a truck, your darkness is the perfect counter to a line of sight teleporter like Lee. You know big and scaly's going to get back on his feet at any minute, and you know he's going to keep tracking you. Keep Lee off my back or help me take him down, and Lung's no longer your problem!
The tingling numbness over my skin pulled back over most of my body, and I quickly took a gamble. Grue, the guy making the darkness, worked with Tattletale, a 'Thinker' named Tattletale who had superpowered deductive abilities. Like full on 'enemy scan' grade deductions. The kind that could, among other things, instantly tell if someone was bullshiting you or not.
Which normally Mask blocked out, but with a mental twist of my fingers for luck… I toggled off for a moment.
I waited for a beat, feeling completely and utterly naked. Going over the list of superhuman clairvoyants (including the unimaginatively named 'Clairvoyant') who might be homing in on me right as I did that… Before the darkness peeled away, leaving me floating in a shell of absolute darkness, looking at four costumed teenagers on two giant vaguely dog-shaped beasts of flesh, bone and mean, one of them badly burnt.
I also noted that one of the teens, the bigger female with a cheap plastic dog mask, was holding a third, more normally sized dog protectively as she sat on the more intact dog monster's back.
"Talk fast," The largest of them, a strongly built guy in full concealing motorcycle leathers with a skull helmet, leaking the same smoke shielding us.
"You heard me, keep Lee off my back and I'll slay the dragon," I said, eyes sweeping over the terrain. "That alleyway, you feign pulling away from it, leave the top covered, but expose the sides. I'll feign being exposed, take some pot shots to lure him in-"
"And then Grue cuts him off once he's on you," Tattletale said. "Basic, but it could work," she said looking at Grue.
"And you'll handle Lung?" Grue asked.
"Put him down or pull him away," I said. "Dea-?" A scaly mass burst into the enclosure.
I fast cast a Firebolt, sticky, bright, and all but alive, shaped like a vicious serpent that bit directly into his steel masked face. Not likely to hurt him, but hopefully bright enough to blind, as I surged in, with another Rider kick, this time to the stomach, finding a lot more resistance, but still folding him like a deck chair.
"We'll handle Lee!" Grue called out, then, with a surge of his signature smoke, vanished from my view, leaving me alone with an escalating quantity of pissed off dragon shaped yakuza.
Which, again, wasn't quite in the top ten of worst situations I'd been in this week, but was getting up there by this point.
Part 3
I toggled Mask back on to full, as I used flight to spin possibly out of my position bringing an aerial ax kick right towards the big guy's neck.
Which Lung blocked, barely catching the blow on his arm, but still yanked him clear off balance.
Using the recoil of my own strike I spun, twisting and throwing a punch, which with the difference of our size, and more importantly reach, should have accomplished absolutely nothing.
But Fist was a versatile spell.
The golden light suffusing my hand like an immaterial gauntlet flashed as it impacted the air like an invisible area, my hand recoiling as the glow continued forward in a lightning fast jab, striking Lung in the knee.
Then, once more working with that recoil, I swung in my other arm in a heavy blow that would be too telegraphed to risk using, hitting that same 'barrier' again.
Then another right. Then a left, again and again and again, five blows lashed out at three times the speed even a boxer would be able to throw them..
Knee, groin, knee again, throat, stomach, driving him down, back, further off balance, physically and mentally.
I threw both my hands ahead sending an outright phantom tackle into him, then burst past this barrier, spinning violently in for another axe kick to his now exposed neck.
A man-shaped object dropped onto me from above, throwing off my momentum once again.
Swinging reflectively, I felt bone crack under my arms, before finding myself surrounded by a handful of dust.
Popopopopop!
And rained on with bullets once more!
Until one of them suddenly dropped their gun right as they appeared, stumbling for a moment as the next appeared sans the ranged weapon.
But they did the job buying Lung the precious second needed to regain his balance and swing his massive arm right at me!
I spun away, both physically and with flight, but he still clipped me, hitting like a truck. Something I'd actually experienced once.
I actually handled it better this time, though I still hit the wall hard enough to bounce.
I blinked the stars out of my eyes, and shot myself 'up' down across the road moments before Lung could bring another flaming fist down right where I'd dropped.
Ugh. Okay, that sucked. I knew already that my right arm was out of action from how I couldn't feel it below the shoulder. Stabilize would unwind that eventually, but it'd take its sweet time.
Regaining my balance, I curved into the air, making a few quick gestures with my left hand as my mouth muttered what seemed like a dozen words simultaneously overlaid over each other before I slapped the limb with Blessing, my strongest active healing Cantrip.
At once all the pain in my side began to subside, the ache in my shoulder beginning to ease even before I got the chance to feel it, though it was still numb. Blessing was quick, but it couldn't cover things the body couldn't naturally deal with. That was up to Stabilize, which was probably the slowest acting 'healing' spell in my entire arsenal. Though it was also the most comprehensive healing Cantrip, and best one for keeping people alive.
Lung glared up at me, and with visible displacement of wind spread his wings, still forming, as he lunged up into the air towards me.
Rookie mistake!
He realized it too as I easily 'dodged' up over his brute lunge, pumping his wings rapidly to try and twist backwards, sideways, in any direction that would keep me from getting behind him, ready to strike at his vulnerable spine, severing its vital connection.
This time I was ready for Lee, and exploded in another point blank high intensity Firebolt as I spun in to bring my full weight down in an axe kick at the Mob boss's neck-
Only for another Lee to impact right as I struck, hitting Lung not in the neck, but in his shoulder, barely disrupting his flight. Forcing me to pull away before he could swing around to grab me.
Tearing the Lee off me before he could do anything more, I lunged in and snatched at his wing, causing the angry beast to shift his flapping even further off its normal bent to avoid my dangerous arms.
Not that it saved him as my left shot out with a quick projected kick to the throat, which combined with the still developing nature of his wings, prevented him from recovering from his emergency maneuvers, sending him 'tumbling' back to the ground, having lost too much altitude to recover with his momentum.
Though he could still land clean with what control he had. If he had the chance.
I wouldn't let him.
PoPoPoPoPO-
BOOOM!
Impacts rained on me from above as a divebombing Lee exploded almost ten yards above me. Mistiming his fuse-
Oh, that was a lot of Lees.
Fuck.
I grit my teeth. This fucking suicidal-
"THIS WAY!" A voice yelled out suddenly, and I looked up seeing a mass of darkness two roofs over.
Lung roared from where he landed.
I bolted for the cloud.
Lee appeared on the roof between us right at the edge pulling loose pins as he did, already multiplying in spot-
Before he was blocked out of my view as shadows exploded up out of the building, surging up from the windows at the upper most floor like the hungry tendrils of a hungry cloud.
I looked up, for any signs of the Ninja in the sky, the only angle he could seem to escape from-
And heard a bullet zip past my ear… coming from inside the cloud!
Fuck, yes!
Turning to Lung, I saw the Dragon man flex his now much better formed wings as the fire on him rolled along his arms and outer limbs in a brighter more controlled manner.
My bad shoulder throbbed, which was probably a good sign, but still annoying. As I flexed my good hand, I looked down at the big scaly brute.
Raising my still working hand towards him I raised two fingers and flicked towards me. "Come on," I teased. "We're not done yet," I added playfully.
And to be honest… there was a big old smile on my face. Which I immediately suppressed.
Alright Taylor… you better not be dead somewhere down there.
"You…" Lung growled out, sounding perfectly legible surprisingly given his mouth had split into four parts. "You mock me? You challenge a-"
I threw a quick jab at his throat, forcing him to twist in place as I followed it by spinning in place firing an axe kick as a projectile. That caused Lung to roar out as he again jumped up towards me, throwing a wave of blinding fire between us as he did.
I matched it with a serpentine Firebolt of my own, the attacks not clashing, but instead seemingly passing clear through each other dosing both of us in the fires of the other.
And of course, neither of us was burned.
The hairs on the back of my neck rose and I 'ducked' down in a crash dive, feeling the air displace above me from a blow as Lung suddenly closed the distance with a burst of speed. As I shot back behind him "Missed!"
"You WILL D-"
This time my jab hit, striking him directly in the eye, which earned a roar, and a "You Fucking FUCK!"
"Come on big guy!" I called out as I flew out towards the docks, quickly climbing.
Lung burst from the conflagration toward me, and I saw the fire seem to cling to his wings, as he surged at me with magnified speed.
"Oh crap," I said out loud, as I pulled back further, sending a quick donkey kick in his direction, which he powered through like a juggernaut.
"Shit," I said, my audible bravado dying down. "Shit, shit shit, not now!" I pulled ahead away from him for a moment… then started to slow. "Not now!" I kicked again and again.
Lung began to close, as buildings passed under us.
"What, no more declarations of how you're gunna kill me and use my skull as a saki dish?" I called out in a mocking tone, but with a sharp tension now.
"No more word-" Lung started-
And I hit him in the face with a another sticky Firebolt
This time the Dragon roared, and I quickly twisted around flying as fast as I could, still higher.
But it wasn't enough, I was moving fast, but not fast enough at this point, and sooner or later he would-
Lightning shot through the skies.
"YOU!?" Lung called out.
"Yeah," The third person in the skies interrupted. Clad in armor like a modernized Roman centurion, a shield and lance of lightning in his hands. "Me."
"Dauntless," I exhaled.
Okay… this was a thing.
Part 4
"Run," The Protectorate Hero said to me.
"Was already doing that," I said. "Though I think with you here, maybe now I'll fight instead."
Lung suddenly let out a roar as he literally exploded towards me.
"Or not!" I said as I pulled back towards the same general direction I'd been going.
Dauntless caught up to me. "I'll cover you, get to the Protectorate!" he called out.
"No," I said sharply, and with a quick gesture adjusted my Minor illusion. "Follow my lead. We need to keep him chasing."
"What-" he said, glancing back at me… and down, since I'd intentionally climbed just a little less than I had been earlier, leaving me a bit below him..
As his eyes looked down at me, then behind me, he saw what I meant.
"Okay," he said, realizing my plan. "Together then!" he called out as he lashed out with his Arclance, sending another bolt into Lung.
"HAH AH!" I cried out, sending two more rapid donkey kicks into his wings, staggering Lung as I continued to retreat.
The huge boss reeled, but didn't 'lose his footing', which meant I'd lost my ability to drive him from the skies directly. At least without desperation options.
Which I had, but I wasn't sure I wanted to use just yet. Though I had a feeling I might change my mind on that after I got back into the city.
Still, first impressions were important, and I had learned the hard way, just how important having a few aces up your sleeve was. In twenty four hours, I'd have more options.
"Keep going up!" Dauntless suggested. "We can lose him in the clouds!"
"Good plan!" I called back.
"You'll never get the chance!" Lung roared as he continued to close.
As tempting as it was, this time I didn't interrupt him with another phantom Fist strike.
Instead, I sent another Firebolt at him, blinding his view, and the moment I did, I sped up a little only to slow again as the fires died. "Running out of options!" I called out in a desperate tone, acting my fucking heart out.
"Don't worry we're almost there!" Dauntless called back, and, damn, he wasn't that bad an actor either. Though at this point his voice was reduced from just how thin the air was getting.
I cast Life Bubble to keep that from affecting me. A Cantrip I really should invest more time in developing, now that I was here in Worm.
Mostly because at this barely developed level I couldn't hold both it and Minor Illusion, and now would be a great time for a new boss BGM, if only to properly set the vibe I was trying to project.
Was that tryhard of me? Maybe, but then again why was trying hard an insult?
The clouds were close now. While Lung was close enough to begin sending fireblasts towards Dauntless, forcing the Protectorate cape to pull away from me, since he was notably less fireproof.
I glanced down, seeing Brockton now far enough away that I could only barely make out individual buildings, far down, and even further out…
Yeah, that should about do it.
I began to speed up slowly, matching Lung's speed as I gave up on attacking, or even insulting, just waiting for how long it would take for him to realize where exactly we were.
Or rather where we weren't.
Dauntless shot another bolt or two into the big lizard, but mostly seemed content to just continue keeping pace.
Lung continued to chase for a good minute or so, visibly contemplating all the horrible ways he'd kill me… Before something in his expression shifted, and he finally looked down at the open ocean, now easily miles below us.
"Yeah, he figured it out!" I yelled, barely audible at this point. "Cheese it!" I pointed back towards the city.
Then blasted out, and around Lung at well over twice the speed I'd been previously moving at.
Dauntless, moving at similar speeds, gave Lung one last parting zap… then did much the same, moving towards me at a speed just a little under my maximum cruising rate.
I dialed back to let him catch up, ignoring the rage Dragon behind us suddenly crying out in indignation.
"Oh man," I said exhaling in relief and honest strain… as well as not a little pain. "Thanks for the save back there."
"It's part of the job," The local hero said. "Think he'll make it back to shore before his power wears off?"
"Eh… fifty fifty?" I guessed. "Never seen him after a fight, so I don't know how quick he shrinks."
"It varies," Dauntless helpfully explained. "But from my experience? Probably not."
"Shame," I said, almost giggling. "But he's a strong swimmer right?" I asked.
"Oh, he'd have to be," The hero confirmed. "And if not… well… that'd be a shame. Yep. A real shame indeed."
"I bet," I replied. "Okay… I'm guessing you've got questions?" I asked.
"A few," Dauntless replied. And I was distinctly aware of the fact that Protectorate heroes always wore a wire. "Don't suppose you'd be interested in answering them down at The Rig?" he asked, referring to the repurposed oil rig the local Protectorate used as a base of operations.
"Eh… nah," I said. "You did me a solid, so I'll answer some on the way back to the city though."
At that point the hero got real quiet and I could only guess at what was going through the heads of both him and whoever was on the other side of his earpiece.
"You have anything to do with the big glowy thing in the sky?" he asked suddenly.
"What, you mean your shield and stuff?" I asked him, feigning ignorance.
"The big, multicolored one visible from every point in the city," he specified, less humorously.
"Oh that," I said. "I plead the fifth," I was in America, I was pretty sure I could do that. "Buuut, I'll state I do not personally have any power that could do something like that," I said. I had a Gate Cantrip, but it was locked currently, and opened much, much smaller portals.
Somehow, even without a notebook and pen, Dauntless gave a clear 'noting this down' aura as he hummed at me. "Got a name?"
"Tarn," I replied. "T A R N," I added for the record. "You can add 'Kamen Rider' before that unofficially. Can't add it to the trademark or Toei will sue my ass into oblivion though."
"That can be an issue," he agreed. "Though less of one for official heroes-" He paused. "Any idea how the aerial event earlier this night might have happened?"
"Well," I said after a moment. "It probably wasn't an Endbringer."
"That's not the sort of joke you should make," he said seriously.
"Sorry, just.. Kaijus on the brain," I said, glancing back at Lung who was… now much, much lower to the surface. Also I think smaller, but that might just be distance.
"Oh look," I said right as the gang boss visibly just..
"Plop," Dauntless said, and I barely heard him.
"Plop!" I agreed eagerly. "Okay, we're coming up on the city, so I need to run before you lead me into any sort of ambush," I said apologetically.
"You don't need-"
"Kid Win's speciality is modularity. Coil here and March up in New York are badly skewing your thinkers into believing they're way less dangerous than they actually are, and the Illuminati are real, and that's why I can't join you," I said rapid fire. "Bye!"
Then I shifted course and flew straight up at full speed, twisting erratically to the side just in case he got the order to fire.
That was a nice talk! Hah, that was two for two for the diplomatic option! And Mary said I didn't have any people skills.
Part 5
Dauntless, to my luck, did not actually open fire. I wasn't sure if that was because he wasn't ordered to, or decided not to of his own accord.
I kinda hoped it was the first of those two, because the guy was pretty cool and I didn't want him to get into shit on my account… Well, not yet anyway. I imagine a lot of people were going to get in shit from my actions pretty soon.
That was the downside of gaining power. Suddenly you needed to worry about all the collateral.
And I didn't have anyone to help check my shots anymore.
Sucking a breath, I flew back over the city. No music this time because I didn't want any tagalongs. Heck, I even went to the effort to try and minimize my visual exposure as much as I could without sacrificing speed, as I made my way back to where the battle started.
Which took a while, because I got lost, again, and without a connection to the local internet or a new phone line I couldn't use my phone's GPS, again. A problem since I was potentially working on a limited timeframe.
"Really wishing Steve or Gab was here, or hell, even Stacy," I muttered. I had sensory cantrips, but outside of the odd trick like using Minor Illusion as a microphone/speaker set up, I hadn't invested many points or time into improving them. It just hadn't been my role within the group. By comparison, Steven has gone all in on support abilities with his contract, and while Stacy's build wasn't ideal, her contract was a lot better suited to social/sensory stuff while Gab was… Gab. I was still convinced she was actually some fairy princess either sent in as a ringer, or deliberately slumming it with us mundy applicants.
Not that I'd ever hesitated to use her abilities to our advantage, but…
Well, I guess I was paying for that now.
Fixing up Taylor if I found her fucked up or dead could also be a problem. Stabilize could be used to revive someone who'd been dead for less than an hour, but it'd burn out the cantrip for a day. I wasn't Steven, but I knew some medical mojo. Enough to keep someone alive or patch them up in a fight, but my immediate options there were limited.
I found a smoke trail after a couple minutes flying around the docs and zipped back to the general area that the fight had started in.
Or at least, where I was pretty sure it started. It was where the collateral damage seemed to begin anyway. Again, this wasn't my normal job, though I guess it was going to become part of it.
I sniffed at the air. An action that should seem pointless given my full encompassing helmet, but once again, magic was spitting on any hint of common sense. You see, mastering the Stabilize cantrip had let me do one other neat trick beyond reviving the newly dead.
It let me smell the scent of death on those who were about to die, or the dying as long as they were within a couple hundred feet of me.
A handy trick, given Stabilize did its best work if applied before injury. At my level of mastery I could 'walk back' existing conditions with it, but it still worked a lot better if used before you took the hit, letting you stay up and functioning regardless of what sort of damage was done to your body, mind, or even soul. I'd walked off decapitation a couple times thanks to it. As well as psychic attacks, getting my heart physically ripped out of my chest, being torn in half, and a few hundred billion curses. It wasn't fast, but there was no better Cantrip for ensuring survival.
If you had it on you.
Hence, the notable utility of smelling soon to be dead people. Well that and the almost spider sense warning to GTFO when I suddenly started picking up on it out of nowhere, since it also applied to me.
And luckily, since they were still 'revivable' as long as someone was within my one hour limit, I could also pick up on the most recent members of the 'no pulse' club.
Newly turned vampires excluded. Something I'd barely survived learning.
Flitting over the nearby rooftops I found a great deal of nothing. Despite the fires, there weren't any obvious civilian casualties. The ABB mooks I'd flash-stunned had been evacuated, and the only dying person I found was a weathered beggar I'd found in the streets. Who I'd handed off a goodberry after hitting with a Stabilize of their own, before moving on from.
So far, no Taylor.
Fuck. Okay, where would she be? She could be down, but not dying, knocked unconscious from a blow. Which could be bad, since lasting unconsciousness from that sort of hit would normally indicate brain damage… except, that for all its grim trappings and 'realism', this was a superhero setting, so it might not.
But if she'd gone down… wouldn't her bugs still follow her last standing orders? Or was I misremembering that. It'd been a while since I last read the web serial.
Alright, acting on that assumption. She hadn't been fighting, wasn't dead or unconscious, where the fuck would she have-
I looked up at the center of town, where the clouds were still disrupted from where my giant glowing portal apparently visible from everywhere in the city had been.
…Bug girl went right for the bright light, didn't she? Yeah, I should have expected that. She must have spotted it before she detected the guns?
Or maybe she made a 'risk assessment' and went for it after she detected the guns, but before Lung said anything damning. It was America after all, and while guns were a lot less prevalent in Worm than they were in real life, she might have figured that it was just another group of gangsters 'on patrol' rather than a kill team out to actually do something.
Unfortunately, I had no way of knowing what actually went down. I had a cantrip for that, but again, I hadn't developed it enough to get a clear postcognitive image with any sort of detail.
Likewise to actually finding her.
Fuck. I was going to have to do old school detective work to find her, wasn't I? Taylor wasn't strictly vital to my plans, either my primary ones or my contingencies. Honestly, she wasn't even as critical as Foil, who I also needed to look into, but still…
Ugh. This really wasn't my wheelhouse. I was always better at the 'shooting' part of troubleshooting. Team management, large scale planning… I technically had training for that kind of thing, but in practice I'd generally been more useful as a blunt object.
Maybe I should just wait out the day. Once my other contract kicked in, I'd have a lot more resources to work with. Expanded powers, a base of operations to fallback to, backup-
My head snapped to the side as I caught sight of a familiar large, spikey, vaguely dog shaped beast, flanked now by two others.
The Undersiders. Huh, if Taylor wasn't around, what were they hanging around for?
Oh. Right, the obvious.
Okay, let's see if I can manage three for three on my diplomacy rolls tonight!
Last edited: Jul 13, 2024
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Mizuki_Stone
Mizuki_Stone
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Jul 13, 2024
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#86
Part 6
"See, I told you," Lisa couldn't help but boast. "He's looking for something."
That confident smile then shifted to confusion, then bafflement, before what I could only described as 'surprised Pikachu' as I flew up to them, before finally settling into a mixture of alarm and… annoyance? Maybe outrage. Her mask actually made it surprisingly difficult to guess at her expressions. "He's blocking me!?" Ah, that I could read. Disbelief with a hint of outrage. I knew that tone well!
"Sorry, not sorry," I said with a shrug. "Kind of surprised you noticed. It normally spoofs that. If it's worth anything it's not personal."
"It's not hard to notice when what my power's telling me suddenly becomes completely different than it was when I checked you earlier. What, afraid I'll learn your secrets now that you don't need me as a living lie detector?" She shot back, looking pissed.
"Lets not do that," Grue interjected. "We're the Undersiders," He introduced. "I'm Grue. This is Tattletale," he nodded to Lisa, who was sitting with him on the lead dog.
"That's Regent," he pointed to the rearmost of their group. A rather slim young man wearing a simplistic silver and gold mask with a tiny silver crown, and the sort of loose white shirt and leggings you'd expect from someone visiting a Ren-faire.
"And this is Bitch, though you might know her as Hellhound," he said pointing to the other girl sitting in the middle, who was half staring half glaring at me, clearly ready for a fight.
"Yo," I waved. "You can call me Tarn," I greeted in kind.
Lisa narrowed her eyes at me frowning as she visibly tried to peel her way through my Mask. Though interesting, said cantrip wasn't picking up any active analysis from her.
"You helped us out," Grue continued. Not so much 'saying' that little fact as 'stating' it. Phrasing it in a way that drew attention to all the many implications of that statement, and how it would frame any negative actions here on my part.
Very charismatic. I could see now just why he was the leader of their little 'gang'.
"We helped each other out," I corrected. "Something I'm happy to continue doing," I added.
"Then why are you jamming my powers with a bunch of absolute bullshit?" Lisa asked, seeming almost offended by Mask's Mask.
"That's… just how the power works?" I said lamely with a shrug.
"You don't control what it's feeding me," she realized. "You're just throwing up flak to block me!" she said in clear annoyance.
"I mean, who wouldn't?" Regent commented mockingly, waving his free hand in half of a gallic shrug as he held on with the other. "All offense, tats."
She rolled her eyes, "Offense taken."
"I'm not actually masking from you specifically, just thinkers in general," I clarified to her. "With the light show earlier, I'm worried about more global spanning attention. You're actually the Thinker I'm least worried about reading me." we'd be on the same team in less than a day after all.
Though…. It was kind of awkward to talk to her before my other Contract kicked in. Though… how was that supposed to work? Maybe she didn't recognize me? All my selected Companions were supposed to have either been company grown, or have volunteered for the role. Maybe she'd been 'Volunteered' and was trying to slip out of things?
Or maybe, just maybe, she didn't recognize me because covered in a full body costume with a stranger effect that was actively feeding her multiple layers of false information.
Or it might be more company fuckery. Some sort of sleeper agent contract so I didn't 'sample the goods' early or the like. They'd done far worse with technicalities.
"Ahuh," she said, easing back somewhat at that, but still not looking entirely happy, "I bet, it doesn't take Thinker powers to guess who was involved with that. Worried about Watchdog? Or maybe some else?"
"Look," Grue interjected again. "We want to know what you want. Tattletale's pretty sure you're looking for something, and I've learned to trust her hunches. We owe you one for dragging Lung off of us."
I tilted my head in consideration. On one hand, there was no way I was telling them who I was looking for. Though most of 'the Undersiders' didn't know it, their group was primarily funded by the supervillain Coil, who was… problematic. On the other hand, this was a bridge I wanted to build not burn, both because, again, in less than twenty four hours, Lisa was going to be on my side, and some personal biases.
Also a bit of utility mixed in. While The Undersiders weren't a big name group, they were potentially useful assets. Grue in particular had a lot of potential locked away, and Alec had connections and information that could be useful for some of my side goals.
"You know what? Sure," I said after a second of thought. "But not tonight. My window is already closing, and the authorities will be here in force shortly," it surprised me that they weren't here already, though I could hear fire trucks racing in. "You have any way I can contact you? Also…" I glanced around. "I… don't suppose you can recommend a good, no tell, motel?"
"I dunno, do we have a way he can reach us?" Regent chimed in again looking pointedly at Lisa.
She rolled her eyes, and pulled a phone out of one of the pouches of her belt. "Catch!" she said, tossing it up towards me.
I caught it.
"For the hotel, I know a few places," Grue offered.
"Great," I said, my eyes trailed over the dogs again. "I saw one of your dogs was hurt earlier. I'm a healer, want me to help?" I asked.
"Really?" Regent asked. "Tinkers are such bullshit," he said, shaking his head.
I blinked at that, before realizing what he meant. Fancy, clearly armored outfit that hadn't been visibly damaged in a fight with Lung. Lots of displayed powers, including what was clearly some sort of god tier mobile speaker system. Yeah, a tinker was the most reasonable guess.
"Yes," I agreed with him, "Yes, they are." I said before turning back to Bitch.
"Knew it," Regent crowed. "I mean, it was obvious really," he added.
Lisa flipped him off.
Bitch ignored the byplay, looking straight at me. "I don't know you."
"No… I guess you don't," I answered. "That's a no?" I asked Grue.
"Maybe tomorrow," he suggested. "We'll call you at noon to set up the meeting. Unless that's too early?" he asked.
"Noon's fine," I confirmed. "About that hotel though-"
Grue's recommended hotel was on the boardwalk. Something that surprised the hell out of me, given I was pretty sure the boardwalk was Empire territory. And given the Empire 88 were Neo Nazis and Grue was black…
But then again, maybe I shouldn't be so surprised. Even assuming my half remembered belief in who 'owned' the local territory. Circumstances had a way of making strange bedfellows, and with the Protectorate headquarter surprisingly close… if there was any gang presence, it was the low key kind. No gang signs, minimal colors among the few walking around at this time of night. Everything kept very… neat and tidy, with no lingering threat of unsightly violence.
No, everything was nice and polite. At least once I paid for a room cash upfront. No questions asked. In fact, after a quick hundred dollar 'tip', they didn't even press for any sort of ID.
It almost reminded me of my 'home' really. Though I would have had to pay a lot more proportionately back in Hellsalem's Lot.
I mean, it could also be a trap, but that's what my hidden aces were for. Such as the absolute greatest use of my strongest magic. The spell I hadn't dared use in clear view of others!
The ability to cram five hours sleep into ten minutes!
Giving the room one final check over after covering the small infrared camera I noticed watching me from the TV, I cast Haste/Slow on myself and slipped under the covers.
Then let myself… not so much sleep as rest. My mind drifting to how exactly I'd gotten here.
-----
"You mind if I tinker while we talk?" I asked the- my new Handler, as I reached up and dug my own eye right out of its socket.
The woman, a fairly curvy lady with dusky skin, silver hair, purple eyes, and elfen ears barely flinched as she smiled, "Go right ahead."
And yet, she did flinch. Heh, funny. If she thought my eye was bad, she should see my leg.
"Thanks for that," I said, casting Prestidigitation to clean the artificial implant, and pulling loose a small set of engraving tools as I set to work carefully etching into the back. Slicing my finger open as I did for a quick Blood Money sacrifice.
By comparison to digging my eye out, that got much less of a reaction. Interesting.
"Firstly," she said, licking her lips, and I wondered for a moment if she was some kind of blood drinker. Lots of those in the Company, even outside the undead. "Congratulations on making full agent!"
"Glad to get the branded pens," I replied, making swift precise cuts into the delicate prosthetic, careful not to dig further than halfway through the surface layer.
"They are very nice pens," she joked along with a full on polite corpo smile. "Combat certified!"
I blinked glancing back up at her for a moment, "Huh." Then back to the eye.
Sensing she wasn't on the right track she tried another vector. "You're… enchanting that?"
"Might as well," I said. "Might not be allowed to keep the tools much longer. They weren't part of the list for our 'scavenger hunt', but the wording was tricky. Any item not made a part of my being might be ripe for 'collection'," I said.
"Not going to cost you an arm and a leg?" She tried experimentally. "Oh I mean…" she trailed off. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to offend."
Yeah no, that was on purpose. That old trick was straight out of 'how to win friends and influence people.' The best way to make someone view you positively was to put yourself in their debt in some minor way. Asking a favor was typical, but making a small social 'slight' that you knew wouldn't be taken badly was another one.
"Not the arm at least," I replied dryly, playing along for now. I waited until her small 'apologetic smile' began to dip with concern before I added. "No offense taken."
Corpo grin was right back in place. "Thank you. I really hope our relationship can be friendly, not just professional."
"You betcha," I agreed. Adding a small artistic flare. Normally a bad idea in runework, but this type of enchanting was a bit of an exception. Helped bridge the gap of the interface given the spiritual uplink of a soulbound item.
Kind of like how company stamp marks tended to personalize.
"I…" she trailed off. "Is that?" she started as she saw what I was doing.
"Yep," I replied, not looking up.
"But that's… you're going to test that before you put it in your head right?" she asked worriedly.
"Nah," I replied, giving the etching one final look. Then stabbing the center of my hand, chanting in a thrice layered voice as blood seeped from my wounded palm faster than was healthy by leagues, bleeding out into her nice carpet for a full twenty seconds as she sat there watching me cast, not interrupting even to ask me to stop. A good indicator someone had drilled spell safety into her, before the blood all at once bubbled, dried, and seemingly burnt itself up into near vaporous dust congealing into my hand in a single ornate gold coin.
A quick two second chant for Blessing and the wound visibly began to seal. Stabilize ensuring it would do so with no scarring or permanent injury. I turned the coin over in my hand. One side the slutlife crown, the other a learning succubi's face. "It's not done yet." I explained.
"Mr. Tarn," she said, no longer smiling. "I believe I've been very compliant with you."
"Compliant would be dragging me here to ask me not to switch contracts," I said to her. "That is why I'm here right? If not, I fully apologize," I added earnestly.
"I realize on the surface, the EYE contract might not seem a significant downgrade from the Teambuilder, but this is not an up to date contract!" she said, pulling up a familiar sheet.
A visibly aged sheet. Apparently some hotshot had recently pulled it, along with a whole mess of other 'vintage', pre-company war contracts from some old production planet.
"Yeah I know, that's the idea," I replied. "Some guy up in administration wants to run a special test operation. See how various minor and old contracts can handle a variation of Entity infestation. This group's apparently resistant to the normal memetic kill array."
"Administration" she said. "You mean management?" she asked, clearly sure she misheard.
"Nope," I replied, melting down the coin in my hand, careful on how hot I got it, both to burn away the impurities and to get it to the right flow rate. "Though of course I didn't talk to them directly. I knew someone in management who got me in touch."
"I'm your handler," she clarified. "That sort of thing is my job. I know you don't realize the intricacies, but this is a sizable downgrade. Whatever you needed, I'm sure I could have gotten it for you without crippling your long term prospects."
"Handlers don't have the sort of discretionary budget to retrieve downed cadets," I said. "Much less restore the sort of damage Stacy got." Some things were a lot harder to fix than simple death, even by exotic means.
I'd know.
"Y-you… want to bring back your training cadre?" she started looking absolutely befuddled, then bemused, as if she couldn't understand what she was hearing.
"Not Cain," I said, using Prestidigitation to cool the molten gold a little, and 'clean away' the remaining impurities. "Few others also got excluded to make the budget for Stacy and Gab's treatment. Even if Gabriel probably does have some big budget backing of her own she's not asking for help."
"No comment," My handler grumbled. "Alright, I'll admit that's not something I could pull out casually with a Teambuilder contract. But I could have arranged installments…"
"Ah, but would that let the entire training cadre retest afterwards? Including me?" I asked her, now carefully pouring the gold into the small cuts I etched, slightly overfilling in places. Not that that was a problem, gold was very soft after all. A bit of elbow grease and a dash more Prestidigitation and it was lined smooth.
She blinked. "A full retest? From paperwork to final?" she added.
"Complete with contract," I confirmed. "If I pass."
"If you pass," she said mockingly. "You could have started with that." she added, looking both impressed and… concerned.
After all, a fresh new contract meant I might have the chance to get a fresh new handler. Particularly with the connections I'd just boasted about having.
"Ah," I said, with a smirk. "But then you might not have given me the time to enchant my eye!" I stated, holding up the now polished prosthetic.
Her complex thoughts came to an immediate halt. "You are going to test that before you stick it in your skull right!?" she asked again, more insistently this time.
I shrugged. "Maybe," before reaching up to pull open my empty eyelid.
-----
Which reminded me. I needed to remember to call up Ayla once my twenty four hour blackout ended. Both to find out what the deal with Lisa was, and to see what she'd dug up for options. She'd offered pretty quickly to personally review what 'vintage' equipment was available to my old contract in return for an introduction to my other contact in management. Something I both knew I couldn't hide for long, and that Tanya would have no problem with me facilitating.
With luck she'd have found something functional, and not just some overly decorated vacation home.
But…. that was tomorrow's issue.
For the moment. I'd just fought a lower-case 'd' dragon and had the mother of all portal lag. I was getting my five hour nap, damn it.
Once I was back up, I had, research to do.