NanoSteps Brainstorming 3 - And a Step to the Right

[robkelk]

Previous thread is previous

---

"Well believe me, Mike, Doug, I calculated the odds of this succeeding versus the odds I was doing something incredibly stupid ... and I went ahead anyway."

I held the sheet of calculations up so he could see them. "Crow, you knew this was a bad idea. See here? 'Breach Hull - All Die.'"

"Oh, yeah. Even had it underlined."

Spoiler

MST3K: The Movie

[Terrace]

I hated being nightshift security.

I really hated being nightshift security at a family-friendly pizza place where the animatronics moved at night.

Oh, and they were trying to kill me due to buggy software that the management was too cheap to fix.

Good thing I wasn't really here for the frankly pathetic paycheck. The video and audio recordings of my time here that Eimi was helping me make would be just what the police needed to shut this place down for good. Immediately. I picked up the security feed again, currently hooked into the camera covering Pirate Cove.

Wait, where's Foxy?

With a speed borne of my metahuman-level reflexes, I hit the switch, slamming the door in the sprinting robot's face. As the banging subsided, I was grateful that 6 am was only a couple minutes away.

Spoiler

Five Nights at Freddy's

[Bob Schroeck]

We was thirty miles outside of Tulsa Town and eighty-five trucks strong when I first saw the motorcycle. It come roarin' down the other side of I-44 like a westbound cruise missile -- a serious crotch rocket, long and low and sleek, all shiny black and painted flames. It looked like no motorcycle I ever seen before but fer sure, it couldn't be nothing else. Not with some damn fool in grey ridin' on top of it.

Soon as it passed, I put it outta my mind. I had the front door an' I was worried 'bout what was waiting for us in Tulsa. We'd been bothered by bears the last fifty miles, and fer sure they weren't gonna let us just roll 'right onto 244 an' through the city.

I'd just gotten done discussin' our options with Pig-Pen when the radio crackled. "Ah, breaker one-nine, this here's Looney Toons for the Rubber Duck."

I picked up the handset and keyed it. "Ah, breaker, Looney Toons, this here's the Duck. What can I do y'for?" I let go'a the button, then keyed it again. "Can't say I've heard your handle yet today, Looney Toons, what you drivin', come on?"

"Well, Duck, I got some info for you. And I'm the biker coming up on your right."

I glanced over at the rearview an' fer sure, it was that crotch rocket again. "Mercy sakes, Looney Toons, that's a helluva ride you got there. And what you got for me?" By the time I let go of the handset key, that black bike had passed me and pulled in front of me there in the hammer lane, close enough that I could see it had Oklahoma tags.

"Thank you, Rubber Duck, I'm pretty proud of it," he came back. "And what I've got, well, I think your little high-speed parade's upset someone somewhere. I just came from Tulsa, and twenty minutes ago I saw what seemed to be every cop in the state converging on the I-44/I-244 interchange. I'm guessing they're setting up a cheery little welcoming party for you and your friends."

I growled and keyed the handset. "Well, sheeeeooot, I was 'fraid of something like that."

There was a bit o' dead air, then the radio crackled again. "Duck, you and your friends got a good reason for what you're doing? I mean, better than beating a speed record or getting a bonus?"

The channel 'sploded with everyone tryin' to get his two cents' in about our beefs. I finally hadta shout'em all down before I could answer. "If that don't tell you, well, yeah, Looney, we do."

There was another bit o' dead air, then... "Well, that's good enough for me. Tell you what, Rubber Duck, I'm going to head back in to Tulsa and give those cops something bigger to chase than you guys."

"Say again, Looney Toons?" But even as I was sayin' it, that black bike in front of me turned solid grey and the Okie plate over his back wheel just went blank, like somethin' outta a spy movie.

"After all," he added, "who's gonna be worried about a bunch of trucks with a two-wheeled UFO heading towards Tulsa at half the speed of sound? This here's Looney Toons on the side, we gone. Bye-bye and good luck, guys."

And then damn if a jet o' blue fire didn't come out the back o' that bike, just before he took off like a bat outta hell.

Spoiler

-- "Convoy", C.W. McCall

-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[Pyeknu]

Damn! Choice one, Bob! Choice!

[robkelk]

I love it when I recognize the setting in one sentence... Fun little nano-step, Bob.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[Bob Schroeck]

Thank you!
Edit:  I'm tempted to write a little more in that one someday, if only because I have one line from an Oklahoma State Police officer over the radio that I'd like to use:

"Holy shit!  He just popped a wheelie and kept going up!"

 
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[DHBirr]

Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha! 
-----
Big Brother is watching you.  And damn, you are so bloody BORING.

[Star Ranger4]

gotta find a way to fit in Rocket sled on rails somewhere, IMO
Hear that thunder rolling till it seems to split the sky?
That's every ship in Grayson's Navy taking up the cry-
NO QUARTER!!!
-- "No Quarter", by Echo's Children

[Foxboy]

Sometimes, I just love the strange coincidences that surround me. I had just stopped at a hot dog stand near a Little League field while my helmet clicked over to the next orchestral track.

"Ooh!" Eimi cooed. "The Overture to Bizet's Carmen!"

I chuckled to myself. The AI's quirky origins made her rather fond of the strangest things. Oddly enough, I could tell as the kids began practicing... they stunk. Badly. And yet...

"Are you seeing this too, Eimi?" I asked after finishing my most recent bite on the best hot dog in three worldlines. Ben might not have been the most polished lawyer I'd ever encountered, but dang if he didn't get results...

"What, the kids' actions synched to the music?"

"Yeah. It would be more inspiring if they were any better. Right now, most folks would think they're bad news..."

Spoiler

The Bad News Bears, with a reference to Matlock

''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''

-- James Nicoll

[Pyeknu]

A couple more golden oldies! Nice one, Fox!

[Bob Schroeck]

Ha! I haven't thought about that film in years. And I can't help wondering about what "Ben" helped with... Nice bit, Logan.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[Pyeknu]

Not to mention that television series. My late mother just love Matlock; she watched it quite religiously.

[robkelk]

META: I see the compilation thread's been updated - but you got the wrong movie for #183, Bob. I was referencing the original, not the remake.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[Bob Schroeck]

Fixed. And I'm not sure how -- or when -- I made that mistake.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[Bob Schroeck]

"Call me Deadpool," the guy in red said.

I stuck out my hand. "Call me Looney Toons. What's with the
little yellow boxes?"

He boggled for a moment, then grinned like an idiot before
grabbing my hand and pumping it wildly. "Louie, I think this is
the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

Spoiler

Do I have to identify this? Deadpool, your choice of medium.

-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[Pyeknu]

LOL!

[Bob Schroeck]

A little more, right off the top of my head:

"So, we're in a comic book?" I asked.

"You bet!" said Deadpool. After learning about transfictionality
from Ed, I guess it was almost to be expected. But I never thought
I'd encounter someone who was aware of his own readers/watchers.

I nodded thoughtfully at this. "Well, then, which way are the
readers right now?"

"This frame?" he said, then pointed up and to the right of us.
"There."

I looked up in the direction he indicated and tried to remember
how the Warriors comics Ed had shown me were written. "Hey, true
believers! Hold on to your seats, because starting next page is
my amazing origin story, in full-surround flashback!"

"Oh, goody!" Deadpool squealed. "I've never done someone else's
flashback before!"

-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[Bob Schroeck]

(and then they do the finger-wiggling "doodle-doo-doo" thing from Wayne's World together)

-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[robkelk]

DEADPOOL:  How'd you get your traveling companion?

DOUG:  Well, it was like this ...

[Ripple effect.  We see the legendary station of Stellvia.  Sitting on a desk is a laptop computer in a jet-black case.]

EIMI:  Uh-uh.  Forget it.

[End flashback.  DEADPOOL and DOUG look startled.]

---

(Yes, I am stealing from ... er, paying homage to ... The Replacement Ranmas here.)

[Ebony]

Bob Schroeck wrote:

---

(and then they do the finger-wiggling "doodle-doo-doo" thing from Wayne's World together)

Well, Deadpool's too savvy to do the one from "Johnny Dangerously." ("Why's the air all wavy?" "Oh, that always happens when I talk about the past. It'll stop in a minute.")
Ebony the Black Dragon
http://ebony14.livejournal.com

"Good night, and may the Good Lord take a Viking to you."

[robkelk]

"Just what is the purpose of a city full of nothing but schools, anyway?"

"They want to bring into existence ..." Eimi sighed. "I could tell you, but I think you won't like it."

I should have known better, but I said "Go ahead and tell me."

"神ならぬ身にて天上の意思に辿り着くもの"

"What? Are they mad?"

"I told you you wouldn't like it."

"Not only do I not like it, I think somebody needs to stop it. Where's the CD?"

Spoiler

A Certain Magical Index and A Certain Scientific Railgun

[DeputyJones]

More than a week late, but...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“BANG!”

The door to the bathroom stall hit the wall as he stumbled
out of it, pants still unzipped and shoes having stepped in the dinner he’d
just reintroduced himself to.

‘‘So much for a peaceful bit of downtime fun!”

In the midst of answering nature’s call, whoever or whatever
had just put on that musical number outside the restroom had charged their song
with enough magic of a distinctly malicious nature that his metagift had made him
as nauseous as he’d ever had the non-delight to be.

As he quickly finished making himself presentable and rushed
out into the town assembly hall where the costume dance party was still going, he
was mentally kicking himself.

‘Never again! Never again will I arrive at freaking Salem,
Massachusetts on Hallo-freaking-ween  and
think I have the time to relax!’

Spoiler

-- Hocus Pocus

(Edit by Bob to fix markup misbehavior)

[Jorlem]

DeputyJones wrote:

---

More than a week late, but...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“BANG!”

The door to the bathroom stall hit the wall as he stumbled
out of it, pants still unzipped and shoes having stepped in the dinner he’d
just reintroduced himself to.

‘‘So much for a peaceful bit of downtime fun!”

In the midst of answering nature’s call, whoever or whatever
had just put on that musical number outside the restroom had charged their song
with enough magic of a distinctly malicious nature that his metagift had made him
as nauseous as he’d ever had the non-delight to be.

As he quickly finished making himself presentable and rushed
out into the town assembly hall where the costume dance party was still going, he
was mentally kicking himself.

‘Never again! Never again will I arrive at freaking Salem,
Massachusetts on Hallo-freaking-ween  and
think I have the time to relax!’
Hocus Pocus

Something is seriously messed up with your post's formatting.  When I click the + at the bottom, it somehow collapses the whole post into its title bar.
Edit:  And your quote of his message made the same thing happen to your post.  So I removed the bit that caused it. -- Bob
-----
Stand between the Silver Crystal and the Golden Sea.
"Youngsters these days just have no appreciation for the magnificence of the legendary cucumber."  --Krityan Elder, Tales of Vesperia.

[Labster]

A curvy brunette in a white lab coat stared at her computer, and then shook shook her head.  Something like this shouldn't be possible, she thought.  But the data didn't lie.  With something this big, Ryoko Sakurai needed to inform the others.  If she wanted to learn more, there was really no way around it.
She stood up and exited her lab into a wide windowless corridor.  She opened a door on the right, and confidently strode onto the top level of the command center.
The command center was structured like a Japanese battleship, with the Captain's office elevated a story above the two tiers of officers working their stations below.  Much unlike a battleship, this room lay half a kilometer underground.
She walked up to a burly, redheaded man who really didn't need to be a story higher to look over everyone's shoulder.  "Commander, I've completed my analysis."
He turned to face her.  "Ryoko, report?"  His lieutenant Ogawa, who wore the suit-and-tie uniform of a idol's talent manager, stepped forward to listen in.
She began tentatively, "The Aufwachen waveform we recorded was highly unusual.  The American must have been using a Relic even outside the predictions of Sakurai theory."
"What?"  Commander Kazanari decided something must truly be awry if Ryoko would criticize her own theory.
With a few keystrokes, Ryoko brought up a waveform analysis screen, explaining, "It doesn't match any Relic currently recognized, so I had a bit of a hunch, and ran the waveform through the CODA system. There was a match: to an obscure twentieth century song, Lightning's Hand.  Such a close match that I couldn't detect the underlying Relic at all, just that song and phonic distortion.  Either his synchronization was so high that his phonic gain completely controlled the Relic, or they've synthesized an entirely new Relic."
After a short pause, Ogawa chimed in, "What on Earth has the F.I.S. been up to?"
Commander Kazanari answered, "I suspected they'd been keeping data from us, but this is ..."
"We need to find out much more."
Ryoko adjusted her thick-framed glasses, and suggested, "How about I just ask the American?  Handsome and mysterious.  Maybe he's my type?"
--------
"You damn sure look American to me.  You sure you're not with the F.I.S.?"
"The what?"  I searched my mind's list of the alphabet soup agencies, and the best I could come up with was something like the Foreign Intelligence Service.  "No, I'm not a spy, or anything like that."
The silver haired girl put her hand across her eyes.  "I only believe you because that's the about stupidest thing I've ever heard."  I am really going to have to learn more about the political system in this world.
"OK, fine.  I just want you to know that I'm fighting because I see some sort of magical simulacra reducing people to ash, and those people need our protection.  But what the hell was that stunt you pulled with those... girls in the orange and blue?"  I had almost said "metahumans", but if they were anything like Chris here, they were likely ordinary girls using an arcane focus similar to hers.
"It's simple: I'm trying to bring world peace."  This train of thought could go really good or really--  "And the only way to do that is to beat the shit out of anyone who has the power to fight."  -- really bad.
"Chris, that's not really going to work."
"I thought that was so simple that even a adult could understand, but I guess I was wrong.  Let me make it easy: you fight, you die.  You can't fight, we have peace."
"No Chris, I understand the theory, because I've heard it out of the mouths of so many other people.  All of them tyrants.  All of them who got a little gift of power, and got it in their heads that the way to peace was to destroy everyone who dared to challenge them."  I was still getting louder.  "And I've been fighting against people like them for most of my life.  Are you really telling me you want to be another tinpot dictator?"
Chris looked stunned for a minute, and then a fury coalesced in her eyes.  She screamed, "I knew you wouldn't get it.  Adults are all the fucking same."  And then she jumped out the third story window, and activated her magic crystal; a red and black armor wrapped around her body. She took a few quick leaps off of nearby buildings (clearing them with a single bound), and she was gone.
Well, that could have gone better.

Spoiler

Senki Zesshou Symphogear

It would actually be nice to see a longer step in this universe -- it does the musical combat thing very well. If only the second season had been as good as the first.
-- ∇×V

[Bob Schroeck]

"You mean these musical numbers just ... spontaneously appear around you?" I asked him.
Inspector Singham gave me a puzzled look.  "Of course.  Do they not do so for you?"
I shook my head.  "No..." I said slowly.  "But it would be damned useful if they did."  I'd already deduced that the Maratha police officer was at the very least a low-level meta.  But this was a power that was weird even by my standards!

Spoiler

-- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singham

-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.