In fact, I could spin this whole thing completely differently. Another trigger in the Bay is an unknown who receives the Processes tinker-tech shard, and is unstable enough to spread the stuff around. So BB is being evacuated while outside heroes are coming in to try to stop the rise of what appears to be another Nilbog, and Taylor refuses to leave. Maybe her dad didn't make it out, maybe she didn't escape the city before the quarantine went into effect, whatever. Now she has to hunt down the creator and stop him.
Don't Be Koi
(Автор: Master of Squirrel-fu)
Raping INTENSIFIES!
"What."
It could in no way be mistaken for a question. It was more than a simple statement as well. That single word summed up is complete unamusement with the girl sitting before him. She sat in a simple pair of jeans and a faded black sweater. Despite claiming to be a cape she lacked any sort of costume, not even having a mask. Well, she claimed she had a mask, only pointing at her glasses and winking and giving him a nudge when she'd said it. That was the moment he should have realized he was not going to enjoy the next few hours.
"I've already repeated myself thrice I don't feel like doing so again," She sat in her chair, completely ignorant of or intentionally dismissing the increasingly frustrated man in power armor standing in front of her. I stead reclining back to file her nails.
"You're lying," She wasn't, at least according to his tech. But in this situation he'd rather deal with being wrong than what the consequences of being right meant.
"Believe what you want, it doesn't change the truth," She frowned down at her nails before working on one finger in particular, "You can ask Lung if you want, he'd say the same thing."
"We'll take his statement when he's capable of giving one," Given the state they'd found him in that didn't seem like it'd be for a very long time. If ever, "Again tell me what happened."
With a sigh the girl tucked away her file down the front of her shirt, an act that might have been seen as needlessly seductive if she had any sort of bust. Armsmaster just spared an idle thought to wonder how it didn't just fall out given as her cloths weren't particularly tight nor thick enough to hid extra pockets. She sat back up and leaned onto the table, cupping her face in hands as she lounged.
"Ugh, fine. I went out for a walk then I ran into Lung," She paused, "He was being an ass so I decided to show him who's top dog."
Armsmaster frowned. He really did not want to repeat the next question, "And... how did you manage that."
"With my power~" Armsmasters frown intensified, "You know the one~"
"Clarify," He bit out, he'd no patients for her to start playing koi, "How did you defeat Lung."
With pout and a muttered insult she complied. And it was just as bad as before.
"I raped him. My power is Raping things."
"Bullshit!"
"But I diiid, And it iiis!"
"We ran diagnostics immediately after you said that the first time," He growled down at her, having stood with enough force to throw back his chair, "We found no signs of sexual abuse, and the both of you had been fully clothed when I'd arrived. Now the truth girl, what happened, and why would you make up something so serious to cover it up."
"Of course you didn't find anything, like hell I'd touch that freak. God knows what he's got crawling on him."
"You just claimed you raped him." He could feel his eyebrow twitching.
"And I did," Armsmaster would later wonder how he'd managed to resist that sudden urge to smack the smug off her face as the girl lifted her hand to tap her temple, "I raped him... with my eyes."
"Really?"
"Only an amateur needs to have to touch their victim. I've mastered the art of molestation."
"How did you defeat Lung." He was going to get the truth out of the little brat.
For the first time since he'd brought her in for questioning the girl looked something anything other then smug, dismissive, or petulant. Instead she met his scowl with her own.
"Fine you want to know?" She raised her arm as he tensed, "I'll show you how!"
She snapped her fingers and he lifted his halberd.
"Aaaaahn~" A high pitched moan left the PRT agent at the door as he fell to his knees grabbing his crotch. He simple sat there for several moments, twitching, blushing, and bitting his lower lip before realizing others where with him. The complete covering of over the top half of his face did nothing to hide the horrified look on his face before he fled from the room crying.
"What. Did. You. Do?"
"I raped him. Like Lung."
"You didn't move from your chair."
"Of course not. I raped him... with my mind." She waggled her fingers next to her head, as if to impress upon him that it was indeed done with just her mind, "With Lung I concentrated my Rape into my stare and raped him with my eyes. I call it Eye Rape... patent pending."
"That's not what that phrase means."
"I'm going to be the one with the patent."
"And I currently have a live connection to the information super highway. Now, once again. How did you defeat Lung."
She glared at him in defiance.
"I don't like you."
Armsmaster bit back the urge to reply back similarly. Cathartic yes, professional no.
"Do you have a girlfriend. Or perhaps a sister or childhood friend?"
"No."
"Now who's lying?" She smirked back, "Who ever she is, I am going to find her. Then I am going to steal her from you. And then I will laugh. Because she'll leave you for me. Never. To. Return."
"I'd like to see you try."
The girl leaned back in her seat once again smug, "Oh believe me you will~"
Laterz
"Onee-sama!"
Taylor looked down at the older brunet girl clinging to her like a barnacle.
"What the shit? Cherish!? I thought Jack killed you!"
"My little brother saved me!"
Regent walked in from the kitchen.
"Yup, I convinced your girlfriend to take a swim to drag her back up from the ocean floor. Wanted it to be a surprise for when you got back!"
Taylor just stared at him. And rapidly his grin began to crack and he paled. When Taylor pointed at him he turned round and tried to dive through the nearest window.
"RAPE BEAM!"
"Shitshitshi-NNNNNGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!" Regent didn't make it two steps before collapsing as the front of his pants exploded.
The Undersider's Adventures Through Tainted Space
(Автор: JustForLurking)
1.1
Pain.
That was the first conscious thought that crossed Lisa Wilbourn's mind as she regained consciousness. She was distinctly aware that every single nerve in her her body, from the very tip of her toes to the very core of her head, was telling her she fucked up bad. She was vaguely aware that she was facing up, and that she was thankfully lying in something that wasn't aggravating her back. She was also aware that she was breathing rather shallowly, if the slight tinges in her chest where any indication. She tried breathing deeper, but that only made the tinges worse. She whimpered, and even that brought on more pain. She tried to open her eyes, but one was stiffly refusing, and the other felt like the noonday sun was reaching from it's place in the sky and stabbing straight past her cornea and into her skull whenever she so much as squinted. She couldn't even cover her face, her arms limp at her sides. She was completely immobile.
Next to her, she heard a familiar voice groan. `Taylor!' she realized. She tried to call out, but only a raspy moan came. No, that wouldn't do, she couldn't stay put. She needed to move, get to a safe place. She opened her eye again, and kept it open, powering through the pain. She forced her jelly-feeling arms to prop her upright, grunting as entire upper torso lit up, shaking in painful exertion. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust, but she could finally see her surroundings. The first thing she noticed was that she was in a scorched crater, at least eight feet deep and twenty wide. Second thing she noticed was Taylor, and facing down and away from her. For a moment, Lisa thought the worst, right until she noticed the girl's small rise and fall of her chest. Her hair was matted and burned in places, and her charred costume was visible through the holes in her equally charred hoodie and jeans.
Lisa struggled flip herself unto her knees, teeth clenched. She crawled sluggishly towards Taylor, her breathing labored, sweat dripping down her face. To her, it felt like an eternity getting there, but maybe just a couple minutes in actuality. It didn't help that the air was so damn balmy. But finally, after an arduous journey, she reached her goal. With a titanic effort, she flipped Taylor over. The brunette moaned in pain, but otherwise seemed to be breathing a little easier. Now that she was facing her, Lisa could better see the damage done. Taylor's slim face was at least fifty percent bruises, and a twenty percent was red with what had to be first degree burns. The rest she couldn't tell over the thick layer of dirt. Her thin lips were chapped and craggy, her nose was bleeding at some point, and her glasses were cracked. Whatever the fuck happened to her friend and herself, it beat the living crap out them. Wait... What had actually happened to them?
Cape fight? No, costume under regular clothes. Heading to one and got ambushed? Possible. Who? Possibly— Ow-ow-ow.
Lisa clutched her head, pain shooting through. Right, everything is aggravated. Powers only make it worse. She groaned and carefully laid next to Taylor, spent. Her chest sent shots of pain with every inhale and exhale. Definitively a cracked rib. Maybe more. She focused on her breathing, doing her best to ignore the pain. Slowly, she relaxed as the pain receded to manageable levels. How long it took, she didn't know. It could've been minutes or hours; she couldn't tell.
Eventually, she heard a groan next her. Ah, Taylor's coming back to the world of the living. She didn't make an effort to move simply waiting for Taylor to wake. She took her time, slowly taking deeper and deeper breaths moaning in discomfort all the way. But she did manage to wake up eventually, announced by a pained and confused "whaa..."
To say Taylor was somewhat disoriented when she woke up would be akin to saying Eidolon was somewhat bullshit: A massive understatement. Her entire body felt like it was thrown into a clothes dryer set to very hot. Not to mention that her leg felt broken. And for the life of her she couldn't remember how she got to this state. Was she concussed again? Had she gotten bombed again? Certainly felt like it.
She did feel marginally better when a familiar, if raspy voice said "Welcome back, Taylor. Feeling just as shit as I am?"
She wanted to laugh, but only managed a pained moan. "I think so," she mumbled back. "Did Bakuda get to us again?"
Taylor's heart pinched in worry when Lisa let out an obviously forced laugh. "No idea yet," she rasped, "My head feels like someone split it open with a dull axe. Can't think worth a shit."
"Oh." Taylor could relate. Her head throbbed like mad too. A beat later, she asked "Where are we?"
Lisa squinted through her good eye, trying to focus in the surroundings outside crater. She could see some truly massive trees peeking over the edge, but her position didn't allow her much else. She would need to get out of the crater to get more information. Unfortunately, her limp body reminded her that she was no condition to go out exploring. Fuck it, she thought, I-we need to know. So with that, Lisa slowly cracked the tap open, and let her power flow. It was slower in giving answers, she noted. But that could wait for later.
Large trees. A forest, obviously. The air is warm and humid, indicative of a tropical area. A rainforest? Likely. Location? The tropics. Where on the tropics? Not enough information.
"I don't know," Lisa said at length, willing her power off as the headache mounted again. "Far as I can tell, we're on a rainforest, but that still means we can be just about anywhere."
"... Oh," was the only thing she got back. Lisa huffed exasperatedly. Even without her power, she could practically feel Taylor's confusion and mounting fear. She wanted to tell her it was going to be fine, but she knew that unless she herself believed it, Taylor wouldn't buy it. But she couldn't know that herself until she got out of this damn crater. But if she tried, she was pretty sure she would pass out again. So they were stuck here without a way to know anything about their surroundings.
And then a weird ass bug flew through her periphery.
... Oh, duh! Jeez, I feel stupid now. Am I becoming too reliant on my power? Gah, something to think about later. For now though...
"Taylor?" Lisa called.
"Yeah?" Taylor croaked.
"We are on a rainforest. That usually means a fuck ton of bugs."
Taylor's addled thought process hitched, before grinding into the correct gear and remembering that she had powers. Wait, how did I forget? I had it for so long and it never ever turned off. It's practically a part of me, a part of who I am. Did something happen to it? Did I lose it? No, she didn't, the brunette realized with relief. Right, she thought determinately. Here we go. She reached for her power, and It felt... Wrong. Sluggish, distant, maybe even weak. She could feel some of the bugs around her, but it was intermittent. Some materialized into her area of awareness suddenly, like they had poofed into existence that same moment, only to just as spontaneously disappear. And even when her power's influence managed to remain for more than a couple of seconds, she couldn't make anything of the information she was getting. It was all fuzzy and warped. She tried to focus, to make her power work like it should, but pain spiked through her skull. She yelped, and immediately let go. The pain receded, but the feedback from the nearby bugs did become clearer, and stayed longer in her awareness.
"Taylor, are you ok?" asked a concerned Lisa.
"No," she answered, her own worries leaking into her voice. "I... I think my power might be fucked. I can barely keep track of the bugs around me, much less control them. It's getting a little better, but not by much."
Lisa hummed in thought. Thinking back, she did notice that her power was a bit sluggish, and it took far too much effort to get a simple deduction. It did get a little better the next time she used it, just a few moments ago. Maybe whatever deposited them here also messed with their powers, and slowly recovering? It seemed... Possible, but she couldn't be sure without using her power, which she was reluctant to do. "Give it some time," she ended up saying. "Mine feels off too, but it's also getting better. Don't force yourself, let it come back on it's own."
