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Thread: Worm: Escalation IC

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    Default Worm: Escalation IC

    --Emily Piggot--
    Director Emily Piggot was many things.

    A wary soul, armed with a cautiousness that bordered on flat out paranoia. It was something she honed, like a fine blade, and she was not afraid to admit it to the parahumans under her command. She was stubborn in her beliefs, unyielding in her duties to protect the unpowered from the bullies and monsters who inhabit the world. But above all, she prided herself in her patience, the ability to sit back and know when to strike against the gangsters in her city.

    Her self awareness was nothing to scoff at either. She was aware of her flaws. Her days as an active field agent were long gone, and she’d lost the muscle and stamina required of a foot soldier, leaving her frumpy and obese. Decades worth of fighting and disappointments in a world gone mad marred her face with stress lines, leaving her with a severe expression permanently stapled to her brow. It was this self awareness and patience that let her deal with the system she worked in, but she knew she was getting to her wits end.

    “Three additional heroes.” Emily said through grit teeth, “The city with the highest parahuman crime in the nation and all they can send is three.”

    Miss Militia kept her silence. The fact that the villains outnumbered the heroes wasn’t just a Brockton Bay thing, it was a worldwide issue. But in the entirety of the United States, most cities merely outnumbered the heroes two to one. In Brockton Bay, they were outnumbered three to one. Those facts were left unsaid. If there was anyone in Brockton Bay who needed to be reminded of that, it sure as hell wasn’t Emily Piggot.

    “There is a silver lining to this though.” Miss Militia started, closing the folders containing the profiles of the new heroes, “Another Tinker would be a blessing to the city. I’m sure Armsmaster is ecstatic, in his own particular way.”

    Emily Piggot snorted, but let her continue.

    “Our offensive options are broadened as well. With Black Star, we can actually have a Shaker on the field without pulling Vista out from the Wards.”

    That was a good thing, Emily had to admit. The PRT had taken a massive PR hit when news came out that the Empire’s heavy hitter, Hookwolf, had impaled Vista through the chest. The girl recovered relatively easily, showing a maturity beyond her years during a press conference meant to appease the public. Yes, the Director decided, it was yet another reason to shield the thirteen year old girl from the gang violence.

    “As for Guardian Sentinel…” Miss Militia’s expression was a pained one, and it wasn’t hard to figure out the reason why. The two of them shared a major similarity; the use of firearms. However, as the longest serving hero in the nation, Miss Militia had an abundance of good will from the public, showing a willingness to use rubber bullets and other non-lethal options whenever possible. She was proud to admit that she never killed anyone using live ammunition. But the same couldn’t be said for Guardian Sentinel.

    Emily huffed, “If she steps out of line, she’ll be dealt with, quickly and quietly. The city needs heroes, but what we don’t need is yet another wannabe vigilante trying to escalate things and add fuel to a fire that we barely have under control.”

    There was indeed a fine balance in the city, one that was already being shaken up by the hero's arrival. Miss Militia couldn’t imagine that the Empire would step any more cautiously, but she could see the Azn Bad Boys getting a little...peckish. Their lack of numbers of capes was always a concern to them. If word got out that law enforcement was getting reinforcements, it might push them to be more aggressive in their recruiting. And frankly, they were already plenty aggressive.

    “We’re all agreed on that front.” Miss Militia said grimly, “Armsmaster will have eyes on her as much as possible. In fact, he was the first to bring up these issues to the Chief Director. He objected the second he saw the dossier, but the fact of the matter is--”

    “--is that we need more bodies on the streets.” Emily scowled, “Speaking of Armsmaster, where is he? He should be here as well.”

    “He’s briefing the newcomers. He’s being a control freak again, he feels like she should personally be in charge of the welcoming committee, especially with a group as eclectic as this one.” The corners of Miss Militia’s eyes crinkled, unheard laughter echoing through them.

    “Good initiative. You can go ahead and rejoin them, I have some paperwork to take care of, and some thanks to send off to the Directors of other cities for finally helping us out.”

    Miss Militia nodded and promptly left the room, shuffling the dossiers in her hands as she quietly shut the door to Emily’s office. Emily leaned back in her chair for a moment, sighing. It rankled, having to depend on the Chief Director to relocate outsiders to Brockton Bay to help. Even with the help of independent hero teams, like New Wave, the PRT were overwhelmed. Perhaps the injection of fresh blood would be enough to turn things around.

    Emily could only hope.

    ---Armsmaster---


    “...and with that, you all have been brought up to speed about the conditions surrounding the city. Our patrol routes have been updated accordingly, allowing us some level of aggression into known gangland territory.” Armsmaster finished, shutting down his wrist mounted projector.

    Colin Wallis, otherwise known as Armsmaster, was dressed in his Tinker power armor. He knew he cut an imposing figure. It was among a list of primary factors to account for during the creation of his suit. It was a deep midnight blue, with silver highlights accentuating his breastplate, legs, and arms. His helmet had a visor that covered his eyes but left the lower part of his face exposed, revealing a neatly trimmed beard. With his trusty Halberd strapped to his back, he looked every bit the leader Director Emily and the public expected him to be.

    “Now, we aren’t expecting you all to begin patrols today, but you will be tomorrow. Normally, you’d all be welcomed to the city with a press conference to announce your arrival, but I convinced the Director that that wasn’t necessary.” Armsmaster knew how important PR events were, but the war on the streets wouldn’t courteously curtail its fighting for the heroes to smile and wave at the camera.

    “I highly recommend getting familiar with the base, or as the Wards have decided to call it, the Rig.”

    The Rig was actually a floating base some distance out from Brockton Bay’s Docks, visible to the entire city. With a forcefield bubble and a missile defense system, the Rig was more or less impenetrable to anything short of heavily concentrated firepower. Firepower that no gang could hope to possess, not without bringing entire teams of Protectorate heroes down on their heads.

    “There are a number of basic facilities here, like a gym, showers, cafeteria, and the like. You should all have access to these rooms to use in your off time. As for the more specialized areas, like the Tinker laboratories, you’ll have to wait a bit for approval. The Director is already in the process of fast tracking such requests.”

    Armsmaster nodded to Gargoyle with a dull pang of sympathy. The fact was that Tinkers wanted to Tinker, and being made to wait on the bureaucracy’s approval for materials was an irritation that every Protectorate Tinker had to endure at some point. Even as a veteran member there were some materials that needed an absurd amount of paperwork to acquire.

    “You may also speak to the Wards, if you wish. Aegis and Gallant are considered the leaders of the team, but only Aegis is currently on base right now.”

    Silently, the door to the meeting room opened, and Miss Militia stepped in lightly. Armsmaster nodded to her. It was a relief his second in command was here, actually. His social skills were considered to be low by many. It was a skill he never really developed, instead spending the vast majority of his time Tinkering. Miss Militia, on the other hand, was the woman sent to deal with fresh Triggers and to make overtures to independent capes to join the PRT.

    “If you have any questions, I will defer you to Miss Militia here. She can give you even more detailed information on the threats and gangs in the city, as well as a rundown about your teammates if you need it. If there’s nothing else you need to know, feel free to roam the halls.” Armsmaster intoned emotionlessly.

    With that, he left the room, not sparing the occupants a second glance. Already, he was tired of standing around talking. There were projects he needed to finish. More soldiers to the cause was always welcome, but his armaments needed working on.

    Miss Militia watched the man go with exasperation. He really needed to attend the PR training seminars she recommended to him, but his stubbornness was only matched by Director Emily. With a sigh, she turned to the newest heroes in Brockton Bay with a smile. A smile that was covered up by her scarf, but was still projected out by body language.

    “Questions?”
    Be wary of paramilitaries. When the men with guns who have always claimed to be against the system start wearing uniforms and marching around with torches and pictures of a Leader, the end is nigh. When the pro-leader paramilitary and the official police and military intermingle, the end has come.

    —Timothy Snyder, On Tyranny
    <img src=https://i.imgur.com/IDb3QBD.gif border=0 alt= />
    Spoiler: Quotes/Awesome picture~ 

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    Aimee wasn't even paying attention to the robot. She was cleaning her guns. She learned the value of that when her gun jammed. She was sent here to help this pathetic city deal with their criminal scum but she wasn't allowed to actually deal with them she had to coddle them. They deserved nothing less than a bullet in their brainpan. She picked up the clip full of rubber bullets and looked at it with scorn before pushing it in. The only reason she was even putting up with the stupid rubber bullets and the no kill order was it was either that or jail.

    Stefania was paying attention but she didn't really hear anything of interest to her. She was cleaning her sword as she listened to the cyborg. She didn't care one way or another if the bad guys lived or died. She just wanted to avoid extradition to Iran, the only thing stopping that was this organization. Sure she could escape again but she would be on the run for the rest of her life, she was not good with paranoia. "Question? Are we going to be required to train the kids? I can't stand those....things. I'd rather be shot by the gun freak over there."

    Aimee heard the crack aimed at her. "That can be arranged anytime you want. At least I don't insist on using a euphemism for a certain male body part weirdo. Little envious are you? Or is it lust?"

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    Her hands might have looked as though they were only resting on her thighs, but in truth, her nails were painfully digging into her palms.

    Probationary.

    She eyed Armsmaster's suit with envy as he strode past her, wearing this power armor so casually. Hers was locked up in one of the labs, being minutely examined - or at least, that was their excuse. Probably embedding mics and location finders to keep her from running away again.

    This had to be the work of that new doctor. Certainly smarter than that last one, not a golf club in sight at his office. And not on the fourth floor but a ground floor office, so no added expense of finding a crane to lift up the new windows.

    So here she sat, wearing only a dark gray bodysuit with a yellow stripe along the sides, pushing her to the edge of her comfort zone - outside of her suit where anything could happen!

    When Miss Militia asked for questions, her hand shot up.

    "My suit," she said, fighting to keep her voice from cracking. "When can I see it?"

    Want the suit, she had to play this their way.
    Spoiler: ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤ √Ăłł Єѵïł ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤ 

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    It was an undeniable truth that all powers came from a person’s trigger event, an attack on the body and mind that was so traumatic it literally induced powers in people. With that in mind, it wasn’t hard to figure out why capes were feared; a good portion of them never really got over their trigger events. They internalized their pain, resulting in erratic and aggressive behavior. It made becoming a villain easy. Their power cemented bad world views and was the biggest reason why the PRT had rotating therapists on call in every city.

    So when Miss Militia looked at the three heroes before her, she could only sigh in bemusement. Comparing them to a badly adjusted highschooler wasn’t even that hard to do. Shadow Stalker, a member of the Wards, was infamous for her irritability and bad team coordination. Miss Militia recognized the look that Shadow Stalker would give her when the girl needed to be sat down and talked to. The dismissive sneer that screamed “I know better than you”, the lashing out at any perceived slight, and derisive body language that conveyed the sense that they would rather be anywhere but here. It was all so terribly familiar.

    Sometimes, she really resented Armsmaster for foisting these types of duties on to her. She tapped a finger on the device strapped around her wrist.

    Turning to Gargoyle at her question, she simply said, “You’re allowed to get it right now, if you want. We are aware of your conditions surrounding your suit, so at best we’ve given it a cursory examination to make sure that there’s nothing that could harm the base itself.”

    It would take quite a bit to do that. Even Arsmaster, with his dozens of variants of his Halberd, which included plasma cutters and the like, wouldn’t do much to the base’s forcefield. But with an ability as robust and as full of options as a Tinkers toolkit, it still didn’t hurt to be cautious. The Master/Stranger protocols existed for a reason, the PRT did not skimp out on the safety of its members.

    “As for the question concerning the Wards,” Miss Militia studiously ignored the catfight brewing between the two, “No, you are not required to train them. We have staff and the occasional hero volunteering for that work.”
    As they spoke, a head poked through the open door, “Heya, MM! You paged me on the thingymabob?”

    He pointed to his own wrist mounted watch, a good natured smile on his face as he glanced at the new heroes. With a red domino mask and full red bodysuit with pads for armor, he was a stark contrast to the blacks and greys of the costumes in the room. Suddenly, he yelped as he was pushed through the door, and a woman stepped through.

    “Hurry it up, Assault. She called us here for a reason.” The woman’s tone was clipped, brisk and professional. The top half of her face was hidden by a blue colored helmet and black visor and she was covered in a form fitting blue bodysuit, with little lights blinking dark blue running up and down the sides of her legs.

    “Aww, is my little Battery afraid of looking unprofessional in front of the rookies?” Assault cooed and poked her lightly in the side.

    “What? No! Shut up.” The sides of Battery’s mouth twitched upwards for a split second, before she composed herself, “Anyway, did you need something, Miss Militia?”

    With a slight laugh, Miss Militia introduced the pair to the rest of the group, “Ladies, this is Assault and Battery. While you will patrol with them on occasion, it won’t be often because their powers complement each other extremely well.”

    “Oh sweet, more teammates!”

    “Nice to meet you all.” Battery nodded to them.

    “But yes, I do need you for more than just introductions. If you could take Guardian Sentinel and Black Star here for a tour around the base, that’d be great.”

    “But we were on break--”

    “We’ll be happy to.” Interrupting Assault’s whine, Battery (presumably) shot him a glare through her darkened visor.

    Miss Militia turned her attention to Gargoyle, and smiled, “Fantastic. If you’d like, I can take you to your armor right now. Armsmaster looked at it and called it good work, which is probably the biggest compliment you can get out of him. Well then, shall we?”
    Be wary of paramilitaries. When the men with guns who have always claimed to be against the system start wearing uniforms and marching around with torches and pictures of a Leader, the end is nigh. When the pro-leader paramilitary and the official police and military intermingle, the end has come.

    —Timothy Snyder, On Tyranny
    <img src=https://i.imgur.com/IDb3QBD.gif border=0 alt= />
    Spoiler: Quotes/Awesome picture~ 

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    'Condition,' Sam winced. As if she was the one with the problem.

    Still, when Miss Militia offered, Sam leapt at the chance. She adjusted her hair with a few touches, letting her good eye look out while right side was completely covered by her hair. It hid the scar and the eye patch.

    "They didn't undo any connections or remove any components?" she demanded, wincing at the slight British accent that only came out when she was tired or stressed. "I lost my third suit when I was testing it because of a bad connection."

    Her first suit had been a brute that wore out quickly from all the weight on its joints. It couldn't even fly. Still, some armored suit manufacture, having caught a glimpse on social media offered her a lot of bucks for the basic design, which they paid her big bucks for as their new G-Suit line for industrial work. The royalty checks helped paid for the other suits. The second suit had the basic Contragrav generator but was still somewhat bulky.

    The third, however....

    It was wrong of her to let them think the suit exploded or just floated off while the paint was drying. But if what she thought had happened to the suit was right, it was better nobody knew the truth. They might drug her and keep her that way.

    She'd dropped a small screwdriver in the generator and turned away to get something - fortunately keeping her away from the suit as the generator shorted out and IT happened.

    A silvery globe was surrounding the suit - and where it met the workbench, it just cut through it completely. The cG generator had somehow inverted itself, creating what she hoped and feared was a statis field.

    If it was, it would make it possible to lock up an offender for centuries, completely unaware of the passage of time outside the bubble. This suit's generator was safeguarded - but some idiot would find a way, somehow. Until she knew for sure, it would stay in its hidey-hole, being watched by a webcam Should prove interesting in 20 years, give or take.....
    Last edited by Enigma; 02-14-2021 at 06:22 AM.
    Spoiler: ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤ √Ăłł Єѵïł ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤ 

  6. #6
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    Cowritten with Snotgirl

    Between their names and the way they acted, Aimee immediately thought they were meant to be the comic relief if this were a tv show. She hated wearing the stupid mask, it made it hard for her to breathe. She ripped it off. She didn't see the need. She had no friends or family to protect. As far as she knew she was immortal or mostly immortalish. She tucked it in her coat pocket. Inside that pocket was also her last bottle of oxy. She opened it and took a pill. She swallowed it without water. "Facilities such as showers and a gym were mentioned. No mention of a shooting range nor sleeping quarters."

    Stefania trusted these people about as far as she could throw this base, the introduction of the couple was not helping matters. Not that anyone could see but she rolled her eyes. She sheathed her sword. She chose not to speak. Only to watch.

    Assault raised a brow at them, then looked at Battery. She replied with a slight shrug of her shoulders and motioned him forward by jutting out her chin slightly. With a long suffering sigh at the non-verbal byplay, he stepped forward with a grin, "Well, it's not a shooting range, per se. It can be though! Just ask our power testing staff, sometimes they like to give me weapons to test out. Some of them are weird, like a laser pistol shaped like a power drill. With a baby that powerful in my hands, they know I'll drill those holes."

    Aimee & Stefania both groaned at Assault's joke. Though the lead up to the joke did give Aimee an idea.

    Not bothering to address Assault's waggling eyebrows, Battery answered, "As for the living quarters, they're a floor below us, near the Wards living area. Just be forewarned though, I don't think any of the other heroes live on base. If anyone sleeps there, it's usually because they're pulling overtime and need to be on high alert."

    Aimee sighed near the children was less than ideal but it was tolerable. "I have no plans on making a financial investment in the city beyond what is absolutely necessary. If they provide shelter I don't need to find a place to live."

    "By those things." Stefania shuddered with disgust. "Looks like I will be acquiring shelter elsewhere."

    Aimee & Stefania followed the overly cherry couple around the base. At the end of the tour they ended up right back where they started.

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