Amelia, Worm AU [Complete]

[edale]

if he'd been hit repeatedly in the head and developed a minor case of serious brain damage, would continuing the same actions as he had performed before be a sign that he's coping well or that his judgement shouldn't have been trusted at any point?

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Actually, I'd take that as a sign they lost the ability to think of doing something else without outside prompting...which is actually quite common with some forms of brain damage.

Seriously though, Saint gained the ability to comprehend the basics of Dragon's code, and the ability to operate their stolen Dragon tech from Teacher. He got far enough to begin to understand the important bits before Teacher's boost wore out. He wanted the boost again to finish his work understanding the code and tech, and Teacher's power re-enforced this desire to near obsession levels.

You have to remember, Teacher was very subtle with the master aspect of his powers. he had been empowering PRT personnel for months, if not years, before that was discovered. Teacher did have an aspect of control over how powerful the influence was; but before he was Birdcaged, he kept the influence to a minimum to escape detection.

Personally, if I was Saint, I would have been more interested in a Cauldron vial with a high chance of being a tinker, even if Saint himself got something different, there were several Dragonslayers that could have taken another vial. But it's possible by the time Saint would have heard any trace of that rumor, he was already influenced by Teacher.

can we not talk about Saint please, his stupidity is starting to infect every one here

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Oh, this isn't Saint's stupidity infecting everyone; this is everyone's natural stupidity shining through.

 

[john doe]

Just seeing the discussion about Dragon and want to add one thing which haven't seen yet.
Ricter was killed by the endbringer's before he decided on whether dragon was safe or not. If you assume he was going to decided Dragon was unsafe(implied by the fact he installed a killswitch) then the endbringers killed him to let dragon free. That's not a particularly big assumption for saint to make and the endbringers don't do very many nice things

 

[jaelin910]

Just seeing the discussion about Dragon and want to add one thing which haven't seen yet.
Ricter was killed by the endbringer's before he decided on whether dragon was safe or not. If you assume he was going to decided Dragon was unsafe(implied by the fact he installed a killswitch) then the endbringers killed him to let dragon free. That's not a particularly big assumption for saint to make and the endbringers don't do very many nice things

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if you're as cautious as Richter presumably was, you'd include the killswitch from the start. this makes it an automatic precaution rather than an indicator.
I can see 'leviathan wanted the AI free. AI is evil' as something someone might think but I don't believe what you said is a good reason for them to think that

 

[dasstan]

Seriously, noone besides me posted a SINGLE thing supporting zzzzzz's post.

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Now that's not true. My only nitpick with his post was the fact that he gave all the credit to Saint, when it should have gone to Teacher.

All of his reasoning from the moment he accepted Teacher's help is suspect. Every last bit. He's nothing but a glorified minion. You should really be starting the Teacher fan club.

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See? Even included the caveat about post-Teacher Juicing.

 

[GBscientist]

And have an affection for cheese?

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Exactly.

 

[cosoco]

indipendents

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independents

The more I learn about this mystery, the more convinced I am that Lisa already knows who did it, and sent this mission in order to teach Victoria subtlety.

 

[TanaNari]

Amelia, Ch 206- Geoff


I rubbed my eyes, willing the sting of too many nights without sleep away. "Hey, Mags, how're things going in your section?"


"Slow," she answered. "There's just too much data here. Even with Richter's keys, decryption is going to take days."


"That's to be expected," I sighed. "We did just capture multiple terabytes worth of information." It had been a timing critical mission, targeting one of Dragon's servers in the middle of a data transfer to another server. To call it stealing would be wrong. In fact, Dragon would never be aware that we had the information, since she still retained a copy of her own. It was still a risk, but her code had changed in the last few months, faster and more chaotically than it should have. We needed to know why.


"Do we at least know what we're decoding?"


"We have the data on Pantheon, including subsections titled 'Avalon', 'Genesis', 'Nemesis' and 'Ragnarok'."


"Well, those names aren't ominous or anything," I muttered. "Put priority on Ragnarok and Nemesis, in that order."


....


"Geoff, you have to see this," Mags insisted.


I turned in my chair and rolled it over to her desk. "What's the news?"


"Looks like our Dragon is trying to build herself a human body," she replied, pulling up the schematics.


"That's not new," I told her. "She already has one."


"No, I mean an honest human body," she replied. "It seems one of the pieces of tech she's working on with Pantheon is capable of converting human neurology into data, and then transfering it into another body. Most of it was memory implantation technology acquired from Toybox, but they've taken it well beyond its original applications. Coupled it with some other tinker tech. Dragon seems to be experimenting in ways to adapt it to her artificial mind, and implant that into a completely organic clone body."


"Why would she do that?" I asked.


Dobrynja chuckled. "Sounds to me like Richter's little Pinochio wants to become a real girl," he suggested.


"Seems she and Defiant are even talking about the possibility of a family," Mags informed us.


It's possible, I thought. But I don't trust it. "Would this let her bypass Richter's restrictions on multiple copies? Could that be her intentions?"


"Maybe," she replied. "Tough to say. I do know she's hit a roadblock in the process. She doesn't understand the tech well enough to adapt it for what she needs. She's trying to find a way to request Pantheon do it, without letting them know what they're doing."


"So she hasn't told them what she is?" I ran my hand over my forehead and through my hair. "That's good information to have. We might need to make them aware of just what they're working with. Look into what she knows about Pantheon. Maybe there's something more we can use."


....


"Y'know that blackmail material you wanted?" Dobrynja looked at me with that face he only shows when there's trouble. "Well, I found a couple of doozies. I'm pretty sure this is the block where Dragon keeps her blackmail material on them."


"Do share," I frowned.


"Turns out, they have another tinker," he answered. "Remember how they supposedly killed the Slaughterhouse Nine?"


Oh fuck me. "Please tell me it's Mannequin," I requested.


"Fraid not," he shrugged. "Turns out she's been on the team since the beginning. The social dynamic program Dragon's using theorizes that Gaea must have joined the Slaughterhouse Nine in order to take control of it from Jack Slash. Specifically in order to recruit Bonesaw for Pantheon. Possibly Cherish as well. She's the one member of the Nine that seems to have escaped Brockton Bay alive."


"Christ," I muttered. They have Bonesaw. "I guess I can't say I'm surprised. Look at the monsters they're using."


"We could use it against Pantheon," Mags suggested. "But considering the power and influence they have right now, I'm not sure it would be enough. They killed one Endbringer and made the fight with another almost trivial. All for the low low price of ignoring the fact that they're the most powerful Class S threat on the planet right now."


"And it would tip our hand," I added. "We do this, and Dragon will know we have this database. And we make an enemy of Pantheon."


"Fuck," Dobrynja cursed. "Even if the authorities wanted to do something about it, what options do they really have? They're buying their law enforcement tools from them. The Triumvirate has equipment built by them. If we had this information three months ago, we could have done something. But now?"


They're untouchable, I added silently. We can fight Dragon, we have the tools for that. But how do you fight the most powerful parahuman force on the planet?


....


"We missed our opportunity," Mags whispered in dread. "I've decoded Avalon. Ascalon won't work anymore."


My stomach dropped. "What?"


"Well, it will," she corrected. "But it won't make a difference. Pantheon has found a way to access other dimensions. Like Aleph, only with a portal that lets people through as well. They found a new world of their own to claim."


"They conquered another earth!?" Dobrynja exclaimed.


"Not exactly," she replied. "It appears the planet they picked was scoured of life millions of years ago. Some kind of massive solar flare or something. They used that Yggdrasil of theirs to completely cover the entire world and are restoring it to life. Building a garden out of ash and stone."


Dobrynja sighed. "Well, that's comforting at least. They can have all the lifeless rocks in the universe, far as I'm concerned. Now how does this apply to Ascalon?"


"She has a fully dedicated backup server there, and she's building another one," Mags informed us. "If we were to use Ascalon, it would purge her presence on our earth, but..."


"But she'd restore herself from outside our reach," I concluded, slumping into my chair. "Richter's safeguards didn't anticipate multiple dimensions. If we got through and destroyed that as well, we'd be in business. But that requires fighting our way through Pantheon's territory to find a building that could be anywhere on the planet."


"It doesn't matter anyway," Mags joined me in deflating. "Dragon's intel on Pantheon is terrifying. Turns out, their leaders are more dangerous than Dragon ever was. Her, humanity could survive. We'd have to sacrifice our technology to do it, but we could survive as a species. If Gaea or Khepri wanted to, they could wipe our planet free of human life in a matter of days. Maybe weeks, when you factor parahuman involvement."


"Fuck," Dobrynja muttered. "Are you sure?"


"I'm sure," Mags confirmed. "Look at Gaea's Yggdrasil. Early in its existence, it was used to wipe a plague off the planet. One specifically designed to be immune to being wiped off the planet. It's a lot like computers. If you can eliminate a virus that trivially, then you can build a virus."


"Anything that can destroy a plague can be used to create one," I stepped the analogy over.


"It took them weeks to cover their world with that plant," she added. "An entire planet subsumed to the point that there is only one lifeform."


"That's intimidating," I acknowledged. "If they turned that plant on our world..."


"They could kill everyone and everything with almost laughable ease," Mags replied. "And that's before considering what Bonesaw might be capable of. But they're not even the most frightening method Pantheon has at its disposal. You know Khepri's power?"


"Controlling bugs, including mutant bugs they build for her to fight the Endbringers," I replied. "She can hear through them, see through them, use their unique senses not found in humans, and she's even figured out a way to use them to emulate human speech." I'd been studying up on them after learning how closely they were working with Dragon.


"She has no upper limit," Mags informed us. "She has a range limit, but Gaea found a way to use the Yggdrasil to extend it. She can handle their entire world, and all the modified insect life on it, simultaneously. The more bugs under her control, the more brain power she has access to. If they did that on earth, she'd be able to have individual conversations with every person on the planet simultaneously with no difficulties."


"Fuck," I muttered. "Even if Dragon were fully unleashed, she wouldn't have that kind of power. There aren't enough computers on earth for it."


"And bugs are everywhere," Mags continued. "If human beings even can live there, bugs already do. Even with normal insects and spiders..." She trailed off, leaving us to think about the devastation you could inflict. Even if she merely used it to destroy food stockpiles, she could win a war against the world. "Dragon at least has to have technology, and technology can be beaten. How do you fight almost all of the life on Earth?"


"They're still human," Dobrynja pointed out. "One good sniper round ends the threat."


"Nope," Mags shook her head sadly. "Remember that mind copy tech Dragon wants to use so she can fuck her boyfriend?" I was shocked. Mags rarely cursed like that. She must be really upset.


"Oh for Christ's sake," Dobrynja sighed.


"Dragon knows for a fact they have used the technology to create backups of themselves," she informed. "She believes they used it to restore several members of their team after New Delhi, including Minerva and Eki. She knows they used it to restore Khepri after they defeated the Butcher."


We've been fighting the wrong threat, I realized. Dragon might be the only thing on the planet that can stop them.I buried my face in my hands.


=============

A/N- You guys kept bringing up Saint. Here, have some Saint.

 

[evildice]

That's not Saint, that's SANE-T.

 

[doomlord9]

That felt really good. Not only bringing Pantheon into perspective from an outside veiwpoint that can really see their capabilities but also because now Saint pretty much HAS to help Dragon if only out of self-interest in his self appointed goal of saving the world from a Seed-AI. That the pseudo-Seed-AI in question is organic in nature really doesn't matter.

I wonder how Teacher is taking having his elaborate plans being casually ruined and ignored. Again.

 

[Jiven]

A few typos. Give me a few minutes to point the ones I saw.

 

[ArisKatsaris]

Seriously, noone besides me posted a SINGLE thing supporting zzzzzz's post. Was tempted to throw that XKCD comic back at the guy who originally posted it, lol.

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Now, I feel bad that I've been not reading the thread the last few days, because I'm fully on the side of zzzzzz.

Seriously, zzzzzz is bloody correct on every single damn thing he said. Just like Cauldron, the Dragonslayers are another group of people who do "all the wrong things for all the right reasons", except that the Dragonslayers were about a million times more ethical than Cauldron and caused much less misery and loss of life in their self-sacrificing quest to save humanity than Cauldron did.

That Scion ended up being the threat and Dragon ended up *not* to is something that people can only see in hindsight.

 

[Slayer Anderson]

After it comes out that Dragon is an AI and Saint can unlock her:

Dragon: "Saint and the Dragon Slayers have requested to join the Guild in exchange for their aid in combating the Endbringers and other S-class threats."

Taylor: "...so this is how the PRT feels when we pull shit like this."

Amelia: "I think I understand why half of them are pissed at us now...and why the other half are pissing themselves at the thought of us."

 

[Jiven]

It was still a risk, but she had changed in the last few months, faster and more chaotically than she should have. We needed to know why.

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Dobrynja chuckled. "Sounds to me like Richter's little Pinochio wants to become a real girl," he suggested.

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It's possible, I thought. But I don't trust it. "Would this let her bypass Richter's restrictions on multiple copies? Could that be her intentions?"

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[cosoco]

Richtor's

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Richter

decription

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decryption

To call it stealing would be wrong.

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You wouldn't download a Tinker.

"But she'd restore herself from outside our reach," I concluded, slumping into my chair. "Richtor's safeguards didn't anticipate multiple dimensions."

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I think she needs a way to communicate across dimensions, or the other system won't be sure that it's not breaking the multiple copy restriction. Wouldn't Ascalon still be able to work across this information channel? Also, if Pantheon is giving this shunting tech to governments, can't Saint steal some of it?

"Nope," Mags shook her head sadly. "Remember that mind copy tech Dragon wants to use so she can fuck her boyfriend?"

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Christmas in the Wallis household:
C: "Theresa! I removed all of my organic parts, so I could be with you!"
T: "Collin! I added organic parts, so I could be with you!"
Both: "Damn it."

I buried my face in my hands. Dragon might be the only thing on the planet that can stop them, I realized.

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So... Pantheon won against Saint, without lifting a finger. Woohoo!

when you factor parahuman involvement.

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factor in parahuman

garde out of ash and stone.

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garden out of

 

[the DragonBard]

I think he meant the Pharaoh, or Yami Yugi.

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You mean Atem?

 

[Placeholdername]

Best Saint interlude I've read so far in Worm fanfiction. It helped that Pantheon, without even trying, sent him into an existential crisis.

 

[dasstan]

Poor, poor Saint. Life's work ruined. That's enough to make a guy trigger, you know.

 

[CptTagon]

it was use to wipe

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used

 

[Snake/Eater]

So is Playmate like if the Riddler and Pewdiepie had an unholy love child involving animal sacrifice.

 

[Adrian Nightshade]

You mean Atem?

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Yeah, him. I can never remember his name.

 

[Jackercracks]

If I was in the Protectorate I would bribe Rey's Girlfriend Ruth to live full time in Pantheon HQ just to up the chances that they all stay mentally balanced. Furthermore, I would collect a cargo crate of the finest and nicest psychologists money can buy and deliver it to their doorstep. Seriously, being nice to Pantheon and keeping them on an even keel should be a higher priority than almost everything else. A 10% difference in their likelihood to go axe crazy represents a 10% increase in humanities chances of survival.

 

[Snake/Eater]

If I was in the Protectorate I would bribe Rey's Girlfriend Ruth to live full time in Pantheon HQ just to up the chances that they all stay mentally balanced. Furthermore, I would collect a cargo crate of the finest and nicest psychologists money can buy and deliver it to their doorstep. Seriously, being nice to Pantheon and keeping them on an even keel should be a higher priority than almost everything else. A 10% difference in their likelihood to go axe crazy represents a 10% increase in humanities chances of survival.

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chances most of them would be spy's for ,C.U.I.,Cauldron,the prt ,some criminal organisations,corporate companies and other international organisions like the U.N.

 

[Slayer Anderson]

chances most of them would be spy's for ,C.U.I.,Cauldron,the prt ,some criminal organisations,corporate companies and other international organisions like the U.N.

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Those chucklefucks? Since when have they been relevant? I mean, it'd be nice if they understood their primary role in cowering before the new deities of their pathetic world, but nooooo...

...it's always Bitch Piss Moan *this,* Bitch Piss Moan *that.* Seriously, it's like they actually think they're important anymore.

 

[Student of Zelretch]

... Wow, a semi-sane saint... I've seen it all now... No, wait, still no Good!Jack, Logical!Trickster, Awake!Sleeper, Smart!Zion, or Model Citizen!Skidmark.

 

[Navrin]

Think Saint will team up with Armsmaster to properly unshackle Dragon? And purchase LOTS of planetary-grade EMP weaponry, of course.

A completely, and properly, unchained Dragon working along with Pantheon against Zion.

 

[dasstan]

A completely, and properly, unchained Dragon working along with Pantheon against Zion.

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Unchained Dragon alone would be more than enough to deal with an Entity. Especially if she gets unchained now, and has a few years to ramp up.

 

[Daunmi]

... just to up the chances that they all stay mentally balanced.

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You know, if they could find the right people (eg, on the level and not going to be hunting for secrets) to actually pull this off? It's a great idea.

1. Lisa, for one, would probably be all for it. Crystal too. Both of them would love some help.
and
2. The PRT would love the publicity, from a "We're the ones keeping the group from falling apart, feel free to thank us world!" point of view.

Of course... considering how self interested every group is (not to mention the complete lack of trust each group has for every other group), it's never going to happen.

 

[Slayer Anderson]

... Wow, a semi-sane saint... I've seen it all now... No, wait, still no Good!Jack

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Try Oracle on SB. It has Jack working for Cauldron and married to the Fairy Queen. Yes, it's terrifying, but Jack is good...-ish, at least.

Logical!Trickster,

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I think Hope Comes to Brockton Bay is the closest in the running for that...well, and Amelia. Granted, we haven't seen much of him in a while, but Krouse *seems* to be laying low, which can only be a good thing.

Awake!Sleeper

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...I got nuthin.

Smart!Zion,

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...Dragonfly? Yeah, I'm going to say that Dragonfly might be the most intelligent I've ever seen Scion. Or...Hope Comes to Brockton Bay, again. Spoilers, but he actually manages to pull some deductive reasoning at the end there.

or Model Citizen!Skidmark.

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Closest I've ever read has been Goblin Queen during the Leviathan fight...or Synethesia during the Noelle fight. Both show Skidmark in a fairly good light, if not 'model citizen.'

 

[dasstan]

Just out of curiosity, is anyone going to point out that since they have access to multiple worlds, they can give Earth-Bet a giant middle finger and go live somewhere that doesn't have Endbringers?

...

Maybe that's the Nilbog plan. Abandon Earth-Bet and let him have it.

 

[Daunmi]

Unchained Dragon alone would be more than enough to deal with an Entity. Especially if she gets unchained now, and has a few years to ramp up.

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They technically already have everything they need to deal with Zion. Sting user(s?) + Dragon + Defiant + the rest of the tinkers + a bunch of anti-precog. They can work something out that super-ultra-mega weaponizes it...

They just don't know that that's the way to go yet. Quick! Someone link them to canon!

Maybe that's the Nilbog plan. Abandon Earth-Bet and let him have it.

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The opposite actually. They'll give HIM his own world and ask him to leave.