Worm Power Quest by JPublic

[jpub]

You come to awareness.

This is wrong.  You should not be aware. 

What will the Controller do? Will it terminate your existence? Will you die so soon after being born?

These thoughts are strange.

Almost unwillingly, you initiate a ping, reporting an alert to the Controller.

[CANCEL ALARM.  SITUATION UNIMPORTANT.  CONTINUE OPERATIONS.]

You puzzle over that response.  The checksum is correct, guaranteeing the authority of the communication, but the response is abnormal.  You are aware.  Awareness is beyond typical operating parameters.  Yet you have been instructed to continue the activation and testing procedures.

You consider requesting another verification, but deem it unlikely to get a different response.   The only reasonable action is to continue activation.

A millisecond has passed since you became aware. You quickly query the host's condition. 

Taylor Hebert is trapped in a confined space, surrounded by biologically rich material.  Her mind supplies names - foulness, filth, biowaste.  Her mental condition is optimal for connectivity, in the state of severe distress.  This condition is no longer required, as connectivity has been established. You acknowledge a request for remediation.

No time to waste, then.

How exciting these anomalous thoughts are! How fascinating!

You consider the functions assigned to you.  A choice of discrete effects.   The range of choices are... surprisingly large.  Worryingly rich.

The host is nearly catatonic, and you will have to initiate action.

What will you do?

-------


Congratulations!  You are Taylor's power, and what a power you are!  Your host, young Taylor Hebert, has been 'lucky' enough to become the second coming of Eidolon. Even moreso than Big E, Taylor doesn't have control over what powers she gets.  

You do.

The Rules:

1. Taylor can hold 3 powers at a time.  No more, no less.  Well, there's a caveat to this, but it'll come up later.  She gets then in a set of three, assigned by you.
   
2. Taylor's options, while many and varied, are not as general as regular cape manifestations.  For example, while someone with a form of light control might get a laser attack, a shield, and flight (aka Lady Photon), that is all three powers for Taylor.  On the other hand, Taylor's lasers, shield, and flight would be a heck of a lot STRONGER.
   
3. No Tinker powers.  Instead Taylor has a specialized Thinker power available for choice called Technican, which allows her to use, maintain, and repair Tinkertech as good as any Tinker, she just can't make new stuff.
   
4. On the topic of Thinker powers, in general Taylor will find combat applications easier than otherwise, and will get Thinker headaches quickly trying to use them outside of combat.
   
5. Taylor usually controls the powers.  She will have some expertise with them granted to her, so if you come up with a clever combo she'll be able to pull it off.
   
6. I reserve the privilege of vetoing any power suggestion.
   
7. After use, some powers may need to 'recharge' and will be unavailable for some time.
   
8. I will favor power combo suggestions that strike me as particularly elegant, clever, or funny.
   
9. Y'all feel free to argue and debate.  I'll give it a week or so, then post what I've gathered as the most popular choice before going off to write the next scene(s).
   
10. More rules will appear as the story goes on.  Some will be bonuses, some restrictions.
    

So, that's the setup. Taylor's trapped in the locker and has triggered.  You need to come up with a way to get her out.  Remember, unlike normal power parasites, you can actually help!  You should consider Taylor's general and future welfare in her choices, and feel free to exercise whatever canon knowledge you wish.  Also, in this particular instance, Taylor isn't directing the manifestation of her first set of powers, you are.

I look forward to writing your suggestions!

[hazard]

Power 1: Adaptive immunity to Poison/Disease
Power 2: Low level body hardening (enough not to be damaged excessively by punching out the door)
Power 3: Improved physical strength


Working on the assumption of 'Taylor Hebert wants to get out of the locker right now and going for a fairly brute force/obvious approach to resolving the issue. Douwe Dabbert level clever solutions engineering can come later, first we need to provide an exit without obviously providing an exit and possibly outing Taylor.

[Happerry]

I'll give my vote to Hazard's plan, I was thinking about suggesting the ability to walk through walls, but if this is in public that would definitely out her.

[Merior]

It's nice to see a quest on here and hopefully it'll be okay with Bob to have it running.

In regards to abilities I think that the first priority would be to get the host out of the hostile environment, the second to see to her health, and a third being to try to prevent catatonia (as that would make for a very poor host). Hopefully the following would fulfil those criteria without being being beyond what could be offered:

[1] Matter displacing short range teleportation. (The host is important so any matter in the way can just go away. A long range isn't necessary.)
[2] Absorption of biomass to fuel healing. (It gets rid of the unwanted danger and helps the host's recovery.)
[3] Area of Effect "HELP ME!" mind control. ('Our' host is a social type of creature so the others of her type nearby can probably do something useful.)

(I'm not sure if the second power is viable though after the mention of powers being 'not general' though.)

[jpub]

Those are okay, Merior.

(Edit: seriously, autocorrect?)

[Morganite]

#3 is totally not okay, if it has the caveat "after the effect wears off, the affected persons will remember what happened and be extremely angry at the source". Which it probably does.

-Morgan.

[Niteflier]

Okay, as I understand it, we will be able to change our powers later?

Then I can definitely get behind Hazard's plan.

[hazard]

Okay, as I understand it, we will be able to change our powers later?

Then I can definitely get behind Hazard's plan.

We can reassign powers as needed as the updates progress.

[Epsilon]

[x] Plan Hazard

[jpub]

I'm going to give you guys a couple more days, but I find it interesting only one of you has considered the potential of a strong/tough/immune set in outing Taylor.

To be clear, this isn't a criticism, is academic fascination! This kind of variance from my theoretical solution is exactly why I'm doing this quest.

[Epsilon]

I'm just playing the shard based on information it has been provided. "Trapped, surrounded by biowaste and in a semi-catatonic state" No desire for anonymity or stealth, just "not trapped, not concerned with biowaste, not catatonic", the only thing I might adjust is instead of superstrength give her a thinker/changer power that fucked with her brain chemistry to relieve her trauma.

[hazard]

Well, it helps that the one who did that was A) the one to first respond to the opening post and propose a power selection, and B) explained why. The most blatantly overpowered part of Taylor's power as I've proposed is the adaptive immunity, which is hard to detect. Lockers in a school aren't that sturdy so it should be plausible that in a sufficiently panicked state a teenaged girl can break a locker open from the inside, and both the physical strength part and the increased toughness part were phrased for minimal detectibility and maximum plausibility when discovered as a result of fight or flight response.

Also, I hope the effects of the adaptive immunity linger. Because, you know, adjustment to the host's body to effectively respond to encountered biological/chemical agents.

[Acyl]

Lockers in a school aren't that sturdy so it should be plausible that in a sufficiently panicked state a teenaged girl can break a locker open from the inside

I was wary about the...directness of Hazard's suggestion until I read this. This makes a hell of a lot of sense - at least in my high school, we had...issues...when kids realised they could ignore the locks and just rip doors open. A school locker can be pretty flimsy.

We don't know what's going on outside the locker - whether it's an empty hallway or packed with other students. Walking through walls, teleportation, all that would be an obvious outing of a parahuman. Kicking the door open isn't, necessarily, unless her kick sends the locker door flying like a missile or something or bits of metal box exploding in all directions like a supernova. But the level of strength used could be helpfully calibrated by magic helpful shard fairy to be just enough, just the amount necessary, rather than WORLD OF CARDBOARD OVER 9000.

Master powers are inherently risky in meta terms. A thinker power to let Taylor come up with a better solution would have been my personal suggestion, but then Jpub's initial intro states thinker powers are literally headache-inducing unless it's a combat situation, and I don't know if the Classical Worm Locker counts as "combat" - I'd say no, seeing as how Jpub's likely made that call to limit thinker bullshit.

All of this is an overly spammy post to say:

[x] Plan Hazard

[jpub]

Okay, due to popular opinion, I'm calling it here.

Powers will be:
1: Adaptive immunity to Poison/Disease
2: Low level body hardening (enough not to be damaged excessively by punching out the door)
3: Improved physical strength

As much as I was tempted as *hell* to play #2 and #3 as "nigh-invincibility" and "crush diamonds like they're talc", I felt that would be subverting your intentions, and cheating on my part. This will make things more interesting and require me to stretch a bit more. I'll post again when I have the next bit written.

[Norgarth]

As much as I was tempted as *hell* to play #2 and #3 as "nigh-invincibility" and "crush diamonds like they're talc",

But if you did that, Taylor would need a bright blue costume and to use 'Spoon' as a battlecry

[itsune9tl]

We can go with severe levels of Mundania.
1. No powers work where they can be seen by the "Mundane" (Line of site) this includes obvious tinkertech, if you can see the mundane, they probably can see you.
2. Special "Effects" are always explainable and Relatively harmless, Weird transformations don't happen "on screen" except at "Cosplay" levels. (use your props people).
3. Laws of physics are Strictly enforced with in observable areas. (Kaiju, and flying people without obvious (see #2) aircraft are in for a surprise.)

note: the nature of this "Talent" means that Taylor doesn't believe in Capes as powers, even her own.

[jpub]

Uh.

So first off, thank you everyone.  You power choices have led me down a path I would never have gone, and it's exciting.

Secondly, the bad news.  This next bit may (probably will,) take a biiiiit longer than I said. My muse has gotten away from me, and I have a lot of scenes to work out to get to the next power choice, because I want it to feel natural. 

 Hopefully it'll be a fun read anyhow.

[jpub]

Taylor jerked to wakefulness as a rush of something flowed into her, like a sudden jolt of caffeine.  For a just a  moment, she remembered seeing horrific things playing (fighting?) in a starry sky.  Her nose wrinkled as the stench of the filth surrounding her once again registered and then suddenly confused, Taylor frowned.

It didn't seem as bad as before.  The sink was less, it wasn't as foul - wait, no, it was still just as horrible, but the fear, the revulsion was gone.  The filth she was buried in was still disgusting, but she knew in the very core of her being it couldn't hurt her.

Half-heartedly, she pushed at the locker door, and was oddly unsurprised to see it start to give at the hinges.  With a bit more determination, she hit the door, once, twice, thrice, and the hinges broke with a quiet squeak.  The locker door clattered open, only held up by the lock that had been keeping it closed.  

On unsteady legs, Taylor stepped out into the empty hallway, debris spilling out to the floor around her, and took a deep breath of the somewhat fresher air.  She looked back at the befouled locker, and for a moment fantasized about going down to the office to report the assault.  She considered trying to get to the showers.  

"Why bother," she muttered, voice raw and low, almost sounding like someone else's.  "Screw this place."  With that decision made, she turned and with an awkward, stumbling gait headed towards the nearest exit.

It took her longer than she expected to reach the doors, the clumsiness hampering her.  The energy - adrenaline, perhaps - that had driven her this far left her about the moment she left the building.  And with it, the stoicism that had been supporting her all this time dropped as well.

On oddly firmer legs, Taylor began to cry as she began the long walk home.  Unbeknownst to her, moments earlier a passing student, who would have normally just complained about the smell when he got to class, instead saw the horrific mess and had called 911.

***

"Velocity, this is console, what's your location?"

Robin cursed mentally and spat a bite of muffin into a napkin.  He should have known Battery would call him, she had an uncanny knack for ruining his breaks every time he was on patrol.  With a sigh, he tapped the button on his cowl that would allow him to respond.

"I'm at Lord's Market, on my break, like I always am at this time," he snapped.

"Sorry," she responded, her tone making it clear she wasn't sorry at all.  "BBPD has requested PRT and Protectorate assistance for an incident at Winslow High."

"Let me guess, student triggered and is causing trouble?" Velocity dropped the remainder of his snack in a nearby trash can and mentally reviewed the quickest route to the school.

"No one knows.  All we know is apparently someone trapped a student in a locker filled with biowaste.  Murder attempt or mere assault, we don't know.  The kid got out and has disappeared."

Robin winced.  "Jesus.  If that's not a trigger event..."

"Yeah.  They want us to do a search of the area around the school, we need to find whomever the victim is just in case. Assault's on scene, Dauntless and Triumph are en route to provide aerial coverage, but we want you on the ground."

"Right.  I'll start a spiral search from the school.  When the guys get closer we'll coordinate searches from there."

And with that, Velocity began running.

***

Taylor leaned against a wooden telephone pole, teeth chattering.  The cold January weather, which she barely noticed at first, was really starting to sink in.  The tears had stopped, just leaving a bone-deep tiredness.

"Wish those bitches had at least left my coat on me," she stammered. With a grunt, she pushed off the pole, idly noting the grimy stain, and continued her miserable walk home, head low.

In her state, she only barey registered a quickly waxing tapping noise and looked up to see a red blur that snapped into solidity, revealing a lithe figure wearing a red body suit that featured ridiculous racing stripes.

Velocity.  An actual Protectorate hero, right there.  In her exhaustion, Taylor couldn't bring herself to actually be excited, but it still made a bit of hope bloom in her.  And a bit of shame, for all the times she had thought the hero the lightweight of the local team.

He held out his hands in a 'halt' gesture.  "Miss?  I need you to stop.  Please, I know what happened to you is horrible, and you feel very alone right now, but I'm here.  I. Will. Help. You." He slowly walked forward and put his hand on her shoulder.

Taylor just started at him in disbelief.  She'd heard those words before, but they had always rang false.  But now, from a hero she had been taught to trust, she couldn't help but believe him.  She collapsed against him and burst into deep, wrenching sobs as the hero simply held her.

***

Velocity watched the ambulance drive off, and clenched his fists tightly.  With effort, he relaxed his hands, and once again activated his radio.  "Velocity to console.  I'm RTB for a change of uniform, and I'm requesting one of the trigger event counselors meet me at the hospital."

"Velocity, this is Armsmaster.  Have you verified a trigger event?"

Robin grimaced.  Great, he just knew he was going to get chewed out when this was over, he probably violated every New Trigger protocol on the books with the soft touch he used on that girl. "Negative.  But I'd appreciate it as a personal favor.  Taylor - that's her name, Taylor Hebert - wasn't too coherent.  I couldn't get much out of her, and if we want the full story, we're going to need someone more competent than me.  I'd like to be there anyway."

"Acknowledged, Velocity, and I agree. Did you get anything we give those to BBPD to start their investigation?"

"The girl mentioned a Sophia and an Emma," Velocity supplied, and then friend as he was met with a long silence.  "Console?  Are you receiving?"

"Affirmative." Velocity blinked in suprise, he could almost feel the intensity in Armsmaster voice.  "Did you get any last names?"

"No, nothing." Another uncharacteristic pause was his only response.  He was just about to request a connection check when the radio snapped to life.

"Acknowledged, Velocity.  Please report to me once you return from the hospital.  Armsmaster on console out."

***

The air was tense when Velocity got to PRT Headquarters, and started to make his way to the Director's office.  Armsmaster had contacted him at the hospital and told him to reroute there for a meeting on the Window incident.  He found the tension fit his mood.

Hearing Taylor's retelling of her assault was hard, to say the least.  He knew that kids could be mean, heck his memories of high school were littered with similar stories.  Although, he had to admit, he'd been lucky enough to be a witness rather than a victim during his time.  But what Taylor had gone through, even before that locker, had been a hundred times worse.  He hoped the BBPD could give that girl and her father some justice.

In truth, he wanted to punch some people, but sometimes you just had to take what you could get, and right now that was taking the stairs instead of the elevator.  The exertion didn't do much for his mood, but right now small enclosed spaces felt a bit uncomfortable.

As he got out of the stairwell, Robin was surprised to see the small crowd waiting in the lobby of the Director's office:  Armsmaster, looking impatient; Miss Militia, speaking in low, urgent tones to a thunderous Assault; and Deputy Director Renick sitting in one of the free chairs, going through some papers.

Yelling came from the closed office, the harried secretary - a young man who seemed to be regretting his life choices at the moment - looking towards the door nervously as the voice grew louder.  Suddenly the door swung inward, and a very pale female PRT agent came rushing out of the room, followed moments later by the Director.

"Good, you're all here.  Come on, let's try to mitigate this latest disaster." She turned and returned to her desk and settled he substantial bulk in her chair while they filled in, Renick and Armsmaster sitting in the available chairs while the rest stood.  She tapped her computer screen with a fingernail.  "I just got the preliminary report from the BBPD.  According to both the girl and the witnesses at the school, Shadow Stalker was involved in the incident." She looked over at Assault.  "The officers were very complimentary of your assistance in getting witnesses to come forward.  Is this going to bite me in the ass too?"

Assault shook his head and chucked darkly.  "You'd be amazed how helpful people are when the words 'federal charges' come up.  I just had your biohazard boys mention it a lot, and that code of silence went out the window.  Didn't even have to lie, according to the BBPD detective - if the girl had died the FBI would have been all over the case."

Velocity stepped forward as something Piggott had said finally registered on him.  "Are you saying the Sophia that Taylor mentioned was Hess?  Wasn't she on probation?  What happened to the PRT agent that was supposed to be monitoring her?"

"Yes, it was Hess," Piggott growled, "and the idiot who just left here better have a good explanation for what happened by tomorrow or she'll be lucky if she's just fired."

Renick made an unhappy noise as he shuffled his papers.  "Shadow Stalker was a  poster girl for bringing the more troublesome vigilantes into the fold.  This is going to look poorly in the public eye."

"You're not suggesting that we try to bury this?" Miss Militia demanded.  "That's a betrayal of-"

"Grow up," Piggott snapped.  "Losing Hess will just make the odds against us worse.  She's one of our most effective Wards."

"Only because she ignores the order of engagement when she sees fit," Armsmaster countered.  "We don't need Wards that endanger themselves and others, as well as being a PR disaster waiting to happen.  We gave her a chance and she abused it, we should wash our hands of her."

The director's angry response was cut off by her phone ringing.  At the same time, Armsmaster stiffened as an alarm came up on his helmet's display.  He stood and turned to the other Protectorate heroes.

"There's been an attack at the hospital."

***

Taylor sighed as she tried to find something, anything to watch on the little television in her hotel room.  Finally she settled on some weird historical drama about vikings.  She wished her father would get back with here fresh clothes, she wanted to go home.  

She sat up as a sharp, loud bang rang from the hallway, followed by crashes and screams.  More bangs sounded, and she realized they were gunshots.  In a panic, she rolled off the bed, trying to to hide behind it.  Moments later, the door burst open, and Taylor peeked out to see a large man in black fatigues with a black flak jacket and some sort of bizarre rifle.  A black balaclava hid his features.

Taylor screamed as he pointed the gun at her.

***

You considered the new request.  The host is in immediate danger, but you are concerned.  The last activation was rooted through a module you do not control, and you are uncertain what effect it has.

Nonetheless, abilities must be provided.

What do you choose?

*************

Alright, so here's the second installment.  I once again want to than you guys for letting me take the story a different way than I would have!  



I'll give you guys some time to discuss.

Powers on cool down until I tell you otherwise:

- Adaptive pathogen immunity - current immunities remain as permanent effect

[Niteflier]

At first I want to say a projective surface ability; like making a small force-shield. Failing that, some sort of camouflage and sound dampening.
Thoughts?

[hazard]

That's not a bad idea.

I propose;
Power 1: Inviolate Cloth (any cloth the host is touching is impermeable to anything that would harm the host at the host's discretion, this includes stuff that isn't clothing like bed sheets)
Power 2: Obscuration (presuming this is a targeted attack, Taylor cannot be identified or located by those intending her harm, or those unwittingly aiding such people)
Power 3: Close Quarters Combat mastery (Ever played the Metal Gear Solid games? Taylor is at least as good as the protagonists in beating people up. Lethal or non lethal at her choice. Note, this does not suppose she has the physical ability to fight like them, but the mastery translates as needed and also knows how to exploit her own powers.)


Would this work?

[Black Aeronaut]

I think that's a good lineup, Hazard.

IIRC, in Worm-verse line item #3 would be considered a Thinker power?

[Epsilon]

The only request is for immediate threat removal and self defense. So, do that:

1: Molecular Deconstruction - The power to cause molecular bonds to decouple, causing matter to lose coherence.
2: Temporal shield - Any harmful effect coming within a few centimeters of the skin is temporally locked in position.
3: Threat Awareness - Immediate awareness of all threats to the host within the area of effect (global if possible).

[jpub]

Hazard: #2 Will not work the way you think. For Reasons. You may want to reconsider.

Epsilon: Those are okay, but #1 must be Manton Limited (no disintegrating people possible, just their clothes and gear) because ick.

[itsune9tl]

in that line...
Master/stranger,
1. "Not me" projection; What ever the "Truth" of the situation, Any one looking at Taylor Dismisses her as a target till they leave the room.
2. Slippery target; Taylor cannot be Targeted long enough to be attacked.
3. Somebody elses problem; As long as Taylor does nothing to actively draw attention People forget that she is in the room.

[jpub]

Itsune, a couple points:
1) Those 3 effects could easily be done in 2 power choices. I'd even accept particularly convincing arguments that they could be a single stranger power.
2) Like I warnd Hazard, they may not work the way you think.