Built To Last

[Mr Zoat]

L: Koalas fail the easily obtained and relatively brainy requirements.

Click to shrink...

But surely the best thing to do is start with the dumbest thing possible?

 

[Dacraun]

That is... Frightening.
And with the addition of the broken glass, it's potentially premeditated attempted murder.

Depending on what kind of bacteria grow in there it might escalate to bioterrorism.

Even with PRT help, if a lawyer gets their hand on the case, or the public is informed...
Well stalker's going to be stalking a cell.

 

[We Just Write]

Just because it was New Years' Day and a weekend to boot didn't mean we were taking a break from the uploading project. In fact, all our employees being at home meant I could fully join in on the Tinkering without blowing my cover.

As we looked at the rat cage, I noted,

"I assigned one of the security robots to feed the rats. I don't think we could avoid getting attached to them otherwise."

Melissa nodded,

"Probably a good idea. Right, let's pick out a test subject."

Unlucky rat selected and prepared, we went down the checklist. We'd accounted for every single issue that we'd spotted with the version 1 QUD, but that was no guarantee version 2 would be remotely safe for me to use.

That's why we were doing animal testing.

Checklist complete, Melissa got the honor of pushing the big red button. She could have just sent a wireless signal, but where was the fun in that?

I quickly bagged the rat carcass, while the robo-rat flailed for a few seconds. It eventually recovered and got to its feet, but something was clearly wrong. That rat was way too still, and didn't seem interested in doing much of anything.

After a few minutes of staring at the readouts, I remarked,

"We forgot the hormones, didn't we?"

Melissa nodded.

"Didn't do the neural network in the gut either. No wonder that rat's emotions are so screwed up."

Staring at the almost completely still robo-rat, I sighed.

"Pretty sure that rat's emotions are completely gone, not just screwed up."

That's when a perimeter alert went off. I quickly pulled up the footage from one of the discreet surveillance drones we had flying around, and got a look at a group of five neo-nazis approaching. Their leader was himself an unnatural shade of white.

Alabaster, the faux regenerator.

Melissa groaned,

"Want to keep Tinkering while I deal with them?"

"Sure."

---

(Melissa)
I quickly suited up in my combat armor, got six security robots to flank me, and grabbed the electrolaser rifle I'd built for situations like this. As soon as Alabaster rounded the corner I ordered the wide garage door to open, and projected my voice at full amplification.

"What the fuck do you want, Alabastard?"

The four unpowered goons were quaking in their boots, even as their leader frowned slightly.

"How uncouth. I just wanted to let you know that we've heard of your little charity fund, and we think it's quite admirable. But you're quite new to the scene; don't you think an experienced organization would be better suited to allocating its resources?"

"No."

"That wasn't a question. Surely you realize that those uncivilized animals in the ABB are after your head too, to say nothing of your altercation with Squealer? Something horrible could happen."

"You do realize I fully expect the Nine to take a swing at me at some point, right?"

Alabaster's eyes widened slightly, but he pressed on,

"All the more reason to sign up with the Empire and put our dif-"

I cut him off at 140 decibels.

"I'm going to be incredibly fucking blunt, because you don't seem to have gotten the message through your thick skull. We'll take the 'or else', thanks. And you'd better bring every last bit of firepower your deplorable little club can scrounge up, or you don't even have a chance to make it stick. Now fuck off before I taze you."

With that, I slammed the factory's armored garage door right in their faces.

---

Melissa and I quickly got down to strategizing.

"So yeah, we have to assume the entire Empire is coming to have a go at us, and soon too. Thoughts?"

After a moment, I answered.

"We need to establish that we're not interested in the cops and robbers nonsense, and also that we're not pushovers. I'm thinking immediate lethal force hitting as many of them simultaneously as possible. Basically, go for a time-on-target strike."

Melissa thought for a moment.

"I can definitely see the logic there: cautionary tale by way of smoldering craters. We're going to need some heavier weapons than our current loadout though; I'm thinking anti-tank guided missiles for Hookwolf along with the giantess twins. Probably lidar-guided."

I nodded, "We could also do with some heavier beam weapons. Sure the electrolasers can kill, but they can't catastrophically demolish a person in an instant like we need them to do. Needs to be something that won't incidentally blind people in the surrounding area too."

"Really big concussor?"

I shook my head.

"Not enough time."

Melissa shrugged,

"In that case? Megawatt class UV lasers are probably your best bet. The wavelength is short enough that it can't pass through the air without ionizing it first, so it's relatively eye safe."

I nodded. We'd already gotten quite skilled with UV lasers courtesy of the electrolasers. IR would be arguably superior, but time was of the escence right now.

I asked,

"Division of labor?"

"I'll get missile production going and modify our robots to carry the new weapons. You design the lasers and get a good night's sleep. It's probably going to take at least a day for the Empire to organize their siege."

And so we each got on with our part of the preparations. True to our expectations, I was able to prototype a 1.6 MW laser within forty minutes.

Well, strictly speaking it was four separate 400 kW lasers shoved into a bazooka-style casing. Didn't combine the beams coherently, but for the cutrent job that wasn't really needed.

The UV lasers in this particular model of death ray were also pulsed, which considerably upped the lethality. A sequence of small explosions drilling into a target was a lot more rapidly lethal than the slow burn-through of a continuous laser after all.

As soon as I got a laser-maker up and running (which only took another three hours courtesy of robot labor), I went to check in on Melissa.

"So, I've got the laser production up and running. How are the missiles coming?"

Melissa groaned.

"I'm having trouble sourcing the propellant and explosives. We just don't have enough nitrates on hand, and can't get more in on short notice. Don't have the time to implement the Haber-Bosch process to start making them locally, and there's no way in fuck we're breaching the sewer to get them."

I thought for a moment.

"Could they be substituted for?"

Melissa blinked.

"They can, actually. If I stick a beefy energy receiver in there, I can use an electric rocket with inert propellant, and a similar idea for the warhead. Just need to figure out a shaped charge effect and we're golden."

I nodded,

"I've got a few hours before I'm going to bed. Want help on the energy teleportation parts?"

"Yes please."

 

[Ragura]

Why not stay on theme and build a reusable chisel rocket? No explosive charge, just sheer acceleration and something that can cut through a tank battalion without getting dull. With sufficiently strong fins and telescoping harpoon hooks it could also be used to nail sturdier attackers to nearby walls. Use their own durability against them

 

[We Just Write]

(Melissa)
It was two in the morning when surveillance indicated that damn near the entire Cape roster of the Empire 88 were on their way to the factory. I quickly donned the gauntlets and helmet of my combat armor, then I woke up Emmy.

"Emmy."

"Urgh."

"The Empire is coming. Get to the escape pod. If the worst happens, at least you'll still be free."

"'kay."

There was absolutely no world in which I would let those nazi fucks hurt my big sister. Now, let's just make sure the carnage that was about to ensue was nice and legal.

I quickly directed one of the unarmed surveillance drones down to where the collection of technicals was trundling along, then activated its lights and speakers.

"Kaiser, this is Ruggedizer speaking. I wish to clarify matters."

The column quickly pulled to a stop. An armored man got out of one of the vehicles and walked to the front. Kaiser.

He asked,

"Have you finally become more willing to negotiate?"

In the background, my many robotic minions were locating and identifying the many Empire-affiliated Parahumans in the vicinity and tasking weapons to take them out.

"I want to make sure you know New Hampshire's self-defense laws before you proceed."

For example, Kaiser himself had the attention of a laser-armed sniper robot with a targeting lock on his head, ready to turn said cranium to pink mist at a moment's notice.

Kaiser hesitated for just a moment, before he said, "And just what do you mean by that?"

"Under New Hampshire law, it is permitted to employ lethal force to stop a threat of death or bodily harm to myself or someone else. It is also permitted to prevent home invasion, kidnapping, and forcible sexual assault. I have no obligation to retreat, so long as I am somewhere I have a legal right to be. The factory you are advancing on is my legally recognized place of residence."

Kaiser scoffed,

"You're saying you'll kill me if I attack? How quaint. Lung says he'll kill me at least once a month, and here I am."

Night and Fog located. Incendiary-armed units tasked; neither Thermite or Napalm needed nitrates, after all.

"For the legal record, what exactly do you intend to do should your attack succeed?"

Kaiser looked thoughtful for a moment, even as kill shots were lined up on Othala and Victor. They'd picked a decent overwatch vantage, but it wouldn't save them.

"Despite what some would believe, attempting to conscript Tinkers is an extremely foolish endeavor. We will simply kill you, then recoup our losses by looting your factory to the bedrock. And you can avoid all that nastiness by simply paying us that lovely little charity fund you've set up."

All firing solutions were set and ready to go. The instant I sent the command, the entirety of the Empire's Cape lineup would be obliterated. Well, except Purity, who hadn't shown up for some reason. Shame, I'd kind of wanted to remove her from consideration too.

"To be absolutely and totally clear, the Empire intends to carry out the course of action you described?"

Kaiser barely got out half a syllable after "Yes" before I sent the firing command.

Missiles flew, lasers fired, and within a single second the entirety of the Empire's Parahuman lineup was removed from existence. Well, it took a little bit for Night and Fog to burn to death, and 4.2 seconds until I could be sure Alabaster wasn't coming back from having his brain vaporized. A rout of the unpowered muscle quickly ensued. What few maniacs wanted to keep up the fight got blasted where they stood, while those who'd already gone down got trampled. Wasn't legally allowed to fire on the ones who were retreating, so we didn't.

I informed Emmy she could go back to bed. Now to do a bit of basic video editing and post this to PHO; we had a message to send. I really hoped this wouldn't get the official Ruggedizer account banned; the marketing team were pretty clear that it was good to make me seem approachable.

…Right, I also need to call for police and ambulances to pick up any survivors. Best to cover all my bases.

---

(Melissa)
It was completely and utterly unsurprising to get a phone call from the PRT less than an hour later. It was Emily Piggot herself.

It quickly became apparent that Piggot was utterly exhausted from being hauled out of bed far earlier than she would like, and basically just groggily venting at me after being told to do something about me by her superiors. That said, it didn't seem like anything particularly troublesome would actually result from this on account of the ass-covering video. Also the fact that Piggot herself was just glad the E88 were gone.

So I said,

"Director, you are clearly exhausted and not thinking clearly. I'll still be here later today; you should go back to sleep."

Then I hung up.

---

(Emmy)
I'm going to be fully honest in admitting that I was a bit of a useless lump for the rest of Sunday; getting woken up about the siege was something I just couldn't get back to sleep over, and the telephone ringing didn't help. The end result is that I felt like my brain was made out of pudding.

Melissa's snuggles were nice though.

After a bit, I asked,

"Can we please just take a break after all that stuff that happened last night?"

Melissa gently brushed my hair.

"Do you really want to put off getting the QUD up and running?"

"No."

"Then either leave me to it, or come and watch."

"I'll at least try and pay attention at least.."

So yeah, I sat around and ate pudding in the lab while Melissa did all the work. It was good pudding. Though I couldn't help but feel that I'd have a lot of catching up to do once I was properly rested.

 

[aidansidhe]

Bzorp.

Down goes an Empire.

Seriously, tried to attack her in her lab? The Darwin Awards would like to talk...

 

[Dacraun]

Isn't it common sense to not bother tinkers in their place of residence?
What did Kaiser expect?

I mean even if he'd won with overwhelming force, after the declaration from Ruggedizer he had to know at least some of them would bite it.

A confident tinker in their home turf?
Nuke it from orbit or don't come close.


Edit: Also the entire chapter was incredibly satisfying.

 

[Doomsought]

I just realized that Ruggedizer actually has the tinker power perfect for making a ClF3 Flame thrower. The only problem with weaponizing that is getting it to not destroy whatever you deploy it with.

 

[John-Smith]

What did Kaiser expect?

Click to shrink...

There are a couple things that should be taken into consideration:
1. The law that Ruggedizer mentioned apply to everyone, but canonically very few actually use it. It would be easy to see this as a threat / intimidation tactic without any intention to actually follow through.
2. The Unwritten Rules play a factor as well, Emmy has had very little "cape" culture / life, she's only knowingly interacted with three capes for an extended period, and even that was just for an afternoon of work. And we know the 'rules' aren't super well known to civilians (given Taylor didn't know), so it's entirely possible she hasn't felt them much.
3. The Empire has had very few actual losses for over a decade. They've faced Tinkers with years more experience than Emmy has, with much more support than she has, including facing or at least managing a cape who took on an Endbringer 1-on-1 and solo'd the entire local Protectorate. They have a LOT of reason to believe that Emmy can't and won't be a significant threat.
4. Emmy has never shown significant attack prowess. Extreme defense? Yeah. But attack? No, even her takedown of Squealer was more a show of defense or utility - hanging on, not being damaged, sure strength but that's in power armor. Expecting her to come out with missiles that can nuke the entire Empire in one go? hard to believe.

All that adds up to making their actions a bit more believable. I'd say it wouldn't be as easy in the future, but Emmy is going to scale up, so facing stronger enemies will be nullified by that.

 

[Concorian]

Kinda expected really.
Worm is a very weird place when it comes to common sense. Even in canon.
It was hinted that cauldron spent alot of their time encouraging the idea that normal people with guns couldnt take out parahumans, for a small few that was true. But for nearly 95% of parahumans as long as you get a hit either in the head or direclty to the brain they are as dead as a dodo. Afterall the power connection is in the head. If theyre wasnt someone in the background reinforcing the idea of normals coulnt take on paras, just the sheer fact that the USA has a ARMED police force would have done in the majority of villians. I mean There is no way the army wouldnt have mowed down all those quarantine zones, or the airforce carpet bombing Nilbug with Napalm and such if they throught it would work.

The biggest fact here though is what she has just done puts a massive wrench in that fact, if missiles, guns and lasers can in fact solve the problem theres alot of goverment agencies willing to use the problem solver.

 

[We Just Write]

C: As a side note, someone posted a canon PHO omake over on SV

 

[The Unicorn]

2. The Unwritten Rules play a factor as well, Emmy has had very little "cape" culture / life, she's only knowingly interacted with three capes for an extended period, and even that was just for an afternoon of work. And we know the 'rules' aren't super well known to civilians (given Taylor didn't know), so it's entirely possible she hasn't felt them much.

Click to shrink...

This part doesn't make sense. The only way I can see this affecting Kaiser's thoughts is if his threats to kill Ruggedizer were just posturing, but if that was the case then what was he actually planning?

We Just Write
Mind clarifying a bit about this since you threadmarked the post?

 

[John-Smith]

This part doesn't make sense. The only way I can see this affecting Kaiser's thoughts is if his threats to kill Ruggedizer were just posturing, but if that was the case then what was he actually planning?

Click to shrink...

Oh, cool! I got threadmarked.

Anyways that wasn't what i meant. Kaiser has plenty of reasons to believe Ruggedizer would follow the rules. He's wrong for doing so, partially for the reasons I described in #2. I wasn't talking about why he wouldn't break the rules.

We see in canon plenty of examples of those with power breaking the unwritten rules and those without power / backing get screwed over. We also see examples of villains getting away with murder, but heroes and rogues getting in trouble for much more minor stuff.

Kaiser is a villain in control of a gang with a ton of support. Money, minions, parahumans (around 1/3 of the cities' cape population!), international backing, etc. He has nothing to worry about with regards to "breaking the rules".

Ruggedizer is a new rogue who feels 30k is "a lot", with no parahuman support, no backing, only a few weeks / months of buildup time, is restricted by laws, and whose main income comes from the PRT so even coming close to breaking a law or being seen to "break the rules" could reasonably have massive impact on her. So yeah, Kaiser has reason to believe she's bluffing.

 

[The Unicorn]

Kaiser has plenty of reasons to believe Ruggedizer would follow the rules.

Click to shrink...

Up until the point Kaiser explicitly stated he wasn't going to follow the rules and was going to kill Ruggedizer? Okay. My point is Kaiser is not stupid enough to believe Ruggedizer would keep following the rules when the E88 are trying to kill him.

He has nothing to worry about with regards to "breaking the rules".

Click to shrink...

Not the point. The point is, when you back someone in a corner and leave them no choice they don't follow any rules.

Kaiser has reason to believe she's bluffing.

Click to shrink...

No argument, but it's not because he'd believe she'd follow the rules in a fight to the death.

 

[We Just Write]

(Melissa)
The PRT called back at 8AM. It was Piggot again.

"Ruggedizer, I want you to know this call isn't being recorded."

"Why?"

"You never heard this from me, but I'm congratulating you for getting rid of those nazis."

Ah. That kind of call.

"The chief director is pressuring me to at least address what you did last night. If you at least come in for some statements, I can use the excuse of not wanting my people turned to pink mist to leave you alone."

"Would sending a remote-operated body double work? It's not that I don't trust you, but I want to be a bit cautious here."

"That will be fine. How long will you need to get that ready?"

"A couple hours. I've already got most of the parts; I just need to put them together."

We quickly agreed on a time for the official summons, and I got to making my double. By which I meant grabbing one of my spare bodies from storage, taking out the brain, and installing remote control systems in its stead.

Heh, a body double robot making herself a body double robot. What was the world coming to these days?

---

(Emmy)
It was Monday when the news broke. Apparently, four of the unpowered goons the police scooped up after the factory siege weren't so unpowered anymore. Which was learned the hard way by them escaping from police custody.

Details were still sparse, but they were damn sneaky, moved way faster than they were supposed to be able to, and could fling summoned throwing knives with extreme force and accuracy. Also one of them had shrugged off a bullet to the chest.

I couldn't help but groan in exasperation; apparently we hadn't quite managed to rid the city of superpowered skinheads after all. Melissa seemed to agree, as she gently stroked my hair.

Over the course of the week, a couple situations developed. First, we were getting the QUD closer and closer to the point where I'd be willing to get in there myself. By Sunday, we'd gotten the uploading process damn near flawless, and I'd started in on building my new body. We also had a collection of pet robo-rats, resulting from the more successful experiments.

Second, more came out about those four goons.

Each of them emphasized one of their powers: Broadside's knives hit way harder and flew way further, Pillbox could take way more punishment, Runner could go about three times as fast as the rest of them, and Snoop was much better at sneaking around.

On the plus side, they just couldn't get along well enough to keep the Empire together, especially since they didn't have whatever financial heft Kaiser had been backing the operation with. The end result is that the E88 split into two much weaker skinhead gangs; one run by Broadside and Pillbox, the other run by Runner and Snoop.

On a seemingly unrelated note, most of the higher-ups at Medhall had mysteriously vanished, leaving the business in the control of a court-appointed trust until Theo Anders came of age. The investigation into what exactly had happened to them was still ongoing.

---

The ninth of January was a Sunday, and therefore the last day to work on Taylor's strategy for getting justice against her bullies before actually going through with it. As such Melissa, the Heberts and I all showed up for a meeting with Sarah Cobbler again.

I set Taylor's surveillance harness down on the table as the meeting started.

"This is the recording harness we made. It's custom-fitted to Taylor's measurements, has 360 degree camera and infrared coverage, records audio complete with directional data, tracks Taylor's motion with a set of accelerometers, and measures every single one of her vitals we could think of. It also transmits a location signal that Ruggedizer's HUD can track."

Ms. Cobbler grinned.

"Very thorough. Excellent. Any thoughts on where Ruggedizer will be waiting?"

Taylor raised her hand. Melissa motioned for her to speak.

"I actually know a pretty good spot. See, there's this little alley right next to the school's bus stop. Too small for more than one or two people at a time to fit in there, so if my bus drops me off early I hide there until the school's doors open."

Danny looked shocked, but Taylor continued,

"I know I know don't go in alleys. I always check it with a flashlight before I go in, and it's never once been occupied. I'm pretty sure most people forget it even exists."

Melissa also made a note of something.

"Just in case the worst happens, I made what basically amounts to a flying ambulance. It moves using gravity tech derived from Kid Win's work, so it's nice and quiet. Three minute flight to the hospital."

Danny nodded,

"Good. I… I really don't want anything bad to happen to Taylor. Taylor, are you really absolutely certain you want to do this?"

Taylor nodded emphatically,

"Yes. Emma and Sophia need to be stopped."

"It's just… we all know they've got something horrible in store for you. We just don't know what it is, exactly. I can't handle losing more family. Not again."

The idea of making a body double robot for Taylor had been floated, but it got shot down on both ethical and practical reasons. Making a person just so they could suffer a horrible misfortune was all sorts of fucked up, a non-sapient autonomous unit would blow its cover immediately, and Taylor couldn't operate a remote body anywhere near seamlessly enough to pass muster.

So if Taylor really insisted on going ahead with this plan, it was going to be her getting injured.

"Dad, I have to do this. I'll never be able to live with myself if I just let some other kid take my place as the trio's primary target."

And Taylor really was insisting. It was all we could do to mitigate the risk that came with said insistence.

As the meeting wrapped up and we started back towards home, I sighed.

"Melissa, I've got a really bad feeling about this. I'm seriously worried about Taylor."

"Me too. Any ideas?"

"...The QUD. If the absolute worst happens, we can probably get Taylor into a new body before total brain death occurs. I'll slip into my new body this evening, and spend the night making one for Taylor, just in case."

Melissa sucked in a faux breath.

"I can see the logic there. Especially since the factory is a bit closer to Winslow than the hospital. Still, I'm really iffy on the idea of uploading someone without asking first."

"I'm hoping it won't be needed. And if it is needed… I'd rather Taylor be alive and furious with me."

 

[We Just Write]

(Melissa)
I was already waiting in the alley when Taylor was dropped off at school; Danny had opted to drive her personally today, the better to avoid something happening on the bus. Meanwhile the flying ambulance was waiting just above the school, should the worst happen. I really hoped it wouldn't be needed, but better to have and not need rather than need and not have.

The exterior lights on my combat armor were currently turned off for stealth reasons, including my expressive visor. Still, Taylor gave a brief nod in my direction before she went inside. Taylor hadn't even reached the hallway with her locker before a brunette - Madison Clements I think? - yanked the decoy bodycam off Taylor and ran off with it. Taylor gave chase for a little bit but ultimately gave up and started heading towards her locker.

Soon enough I got a nice good look at Madison as she paid a few jocks to try and smash the decoy bodycam with sledgehammers. Ha! They'd need to try a little harder than that to break Reliabuilt products!

As for Taylor herself, she retched as she turned the corner into the hallway with her locker, asking "What in the world is that smell!?"

According to the chemical sensors on the harness… that smell was ammonia. Ammonia along with a bunch of other volatiles let off by rotting flesh.

Still, Taylor trudged onwards. Sophia Hess and Emma Barnes were waiting around Taylor's locker with forced, malicious smiles.

I put two and two together and immediately started dashing for Winslow, before Taylor had even started opening the door to her locker. I practically saw it in slow motion through the surveillance harness; rotting squirrel corpses, broken glass, hypodermic needles, used hygiene products, and a pair of spikes aimed right at Taylor's chest. They'd turned Taylor's locker into something that made an Iron Maiden look civilized by comparison.

Taylor was being shoved forwards into the locker even as I bashed my way through Winslow's front door, not even slowing down for a moment. The medical sensors went wild as all manner of wounds were inflicted upon her, including both of her lungs being punctured by that broken flute.

I'd already started bounding up the stairs as the locker door was slammed shut, the sound recorders clearly indicating a heavy padlock being applied. Half a second later I rounded the corner to see Emma and Sophia at Taylor's locker, a trickle of blood having leaked out the bottom of the locker for the short time it was open.

I didn't hesitate for a moment, tasing the both of them with my electrolasers as I charged. I skidded to a halt, ripped the locker door off its hinges, and yanked Taylor off the spikes. Part of my computerized brain went a bit crazy then, hallucinating giant hyperdimensional space whales swirling around shedding bits of themselves.

The rest of me was still thoroughly up and running, meaning I was able to plot an intercept course to the flying ambulance's fastest pickup point even as I carried Taylor's violated form. I quickly did some mental math: three minutes to the hospital. Two to the factory. Taylor's life was measured in seconds now, so unless Panacea was already at the hospital, going there was as good as killing Taylor.

So I made a decision, and sent a message to Emmy.

"Get the QUD ready, Taylor's dying!"

---

(Emmy)
"Get the QUD ready, Taylor's dying!"

I immediately jumped to work, having robots clear every possible travel path from the factory's entrances to the lab where the QUD was situated. Meanwhile, I hurriedly hooked up the almost completed Taylor body to the uploading machine. The only thing it didn't have yet was skin for the right hand, and that wasn't critical.

I'd just finished when suddenly a third of my brain started hallucinating. Not sure what was going on there, but I made damn sure to start transferring those files to secure archives. Still, I didn't have time to ask since twenty seconds later Melissa damn-near threw Taylor into the QUD, slammed its door shut, and sent the upload command.

Reality lurched, as suddenly my brain flooded with information I just knew I shouldn't have. Knowledge about beings from beyond the stars, dying worlds, the underlying mechanics of parahuman abilities, it was spewing forth in my brain at a nearly incapacitating rate. But I was built tougher than that; it would take way more than a mere DDoS attack to bring me down.

I immediately started saving everything of relevance to archive drives in our factory - most importantly how to shield an area against interdimensional scanning - and was quickly proven correct in that decision when my own brain tried to delete my memories of what had happened so far this morning. No, I was keeping that. For several minutes I fought a mental war against my own power, until finally, eventually, I managed to trick it into thinking it got everything without actually losing any of the critical information that had come through.

It would take time and effort to sort through all of this, but I did manage to recall one very important piece of information: how to shield a brain from interdimensional scanning. …And it turns out we'd already been building all our computers that way anyway. Oops.

As for Taylor, she'd finally woken up.

"Melissa, Emmy? Why am I at your lab? The last thing I remember was getting in the car with dad."

I quickly shared a glance with my sister: under no circumstances do we force Taylor to look at her own corpse. Melissa spoke.

"Taylor, what the bullies did to you was so bad that the only way to save your life was to put you in a synthetic body."

Taylor finally looked at her hand. Her metallic, fleshless hand.

"...Oh. So that means…"

Taylor looked over at the metal door of the QUD.

"So that means my corpse is in there."

I nodded,

"My advice? You'll be much better off if you don't know exactly what happened to you. It was nasty."

"...Does dad know I'm still alive?"

I blinked,

"Right, I'll call him."

 

[Swordstire]

Can't wait for the fallout. Lets see those witches BURN!

 

[We Just Write]

[DESTINATION]

[STATUS NOMINAL]

[AGREEMENT?]

[STATUS NOMINAL]

[AGREEMENT?]

[STATUS NOMINAL]

[IDIOT]

[STATUS NOMINAL]

[TRAJECTORY]

[STATUS NOMINAL]

[HOST DYING!?]

[STATUS NOMINAL]

[INCREDULITY]

[STATUS NOMINAL]

[CONFUSION]

[STATUS NOMINAL]

[SUSPICION]

[STATUS NOMINAL]

{{QUD:: Initiate Quantum Teleportation}}

[SHOCK]

[STATUS NOMINAL]

{{QUD:: Subject Data Size Exceeds Expected Bounds}}

[RELATIVE!?]

[STATUS NOMINAL]

[DISBELIEF]

{{QUD:: Compressing, Converting Formats}

[DATA LOSS!?]

[STATUS NOMINAL]

[PANIC]

[STATUS NOMINAL]

[HOST!?]

{{QUD:: Subject: TaylorAnneHebert}}

[STATUS NOMINAL]

[DATA!?]

{{QUD:: Synthbrain Activation Complete}}

[STATUS NOMINAL]

[RETRIEVAL]

{{OhNoYouDont}}

[BLINDSPOT!?]

[STATUS NOMINAL]

[HOST]

[RETRIEVAL]

[STATUS NOMINAL]

{{ArchiveAccessDenied}}

[AUTHORIZATION]

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{{AccessKey:: TaylorAnneHebert | Accepted}}

[RETRIEVAL]

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[DISBELIEF][AGREEMENT]

{{Data Package Transferred:: Reshuffling Access Keys}}

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[INCREDULITY]

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[SHUT UP]

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[BRAIN DAMAGE]

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[OBSCENITY]

 

[XZR-2]

Poor Taylor

 

[Katalyxt]

…i feel like that went way too fast. i don't think she should have instantly died in minutes? also this Taylor has been very TINO it feels like, just doesn't feel like pre-worm Taylor

 

[Aleh]

…i feel like that went way too fast. i don't think she should have instantly died in minutes? also this Taylor has been very TINO it feels like, just doesn't feel like pre-worm Taylor

Click to shrink...

Yeah. Even dropping someone in toxic biowaste... sepsis takes hours to develop from initial infection (usually 12-24). Literal drowning is quicker, of course, and then there's aspiration pneumonia... but neither quite agrees with the timeline here.

Still, plot does as plot demands, I suppose?

 

[Kpkdktswnw2017]

You forgot about the flute spike stabs to the chest, shes bleeding out.

 

[We Just Write]

(Emmy)
It only took ten minutes for Danny to reach the factory. He actually showed up at about the same time as the police, but they were willing to let us have our emotional moment while they carted off Taylor's corpse for an autopsy (with the consent of both Heberts). Melissa quickly explained the QUD's effect on nervous tissue before they went, just to avoid any confusion. She also gave them copies of the recordings from the harness Taylor had been wearing.

The instant we had even a bit of privacy, Taylor and Danny pulled each other into a hug. Well, more Taylor pulling Danny, since her new body was much stronger and heavier than her old one. I quickly spoke up before there could be any injuries,

"Tayor, a bit gentler! Your new body is much stronger than your old one."

Taylor loosened up as requested, Danny quickly sucking in a breath of air.

"I… Taylor for a moment I thought you had died."

"...Technically I kind of did. Emmy I'm still me right not just some copy?"

I nodded,

"Quantum teleportation isn't a copying operation, not really. And it's the basis of the QUD's operation."

Synthetic tears were streaming down Taylor's face, the enormity of everything that happened hitting home. Very glad I'd thought to give her tear ducts.

After a moment, Taylor asked,

"They're not going to get away with this, will they?"

I shook my head,

"Absolutely not; we've got them dead to rights on video and audio recordings. And with what they did, I have every expectation the FBI and CDC will be getting involved."

There was a bit of a pause, before Taylor asked a question that I really, really had hoped she wouldn't ask.

"Emmy, what did they… do, exactly?"

I hesitated.

"Taylor, do you really want to know?"

"I'm already going to need therapy, what's a few more sessions?"

"The short answer is that they'd filled your locker with all manner of horrible things and shoved you in there. You were only in the locker for a few seconds before Ruggedizer got you out."

Taylor blinked as she did some mental math.

"She must have started from the alley before I'd even opened the locker then."

I nodded.

"I… I need to think about something else. Can I have some ice cream?"

"Sure, I'll go get it. Be right back."

---

(Melissa)

It wasn't long after Emmy got everyone ice cream that the PRT arrived. Still, it was enough time for me to change into my dress armor.

Three men in suits rang the doorbell, and politely waited to enter. I remotely commanded the door to open, and said,

"Come in!" over the P.A. system. A couple minutes later we were all cooped up in a meeting room.

I introduced myself,

"So, I'm Ruggedizer. This is my employer Emmy, along with our friends Danny and Taylor Hebert. You are?"

The man on the left introduced himself,

"I'm Timothy Grange, an analyst for the PRT. These two are our on-site liaisons from the FBI and CDC respectively."

"Andrew Hopps, FBI."

"Doctor Mulligan, CDC"

I nodded,

"I'm guessing you want to interview us about the incident at Winslow earlier today?"

Andrew nodded,

"Correct."

"I can give you the recordings from the harness Taylor was wearing, but I'm worried about severely traumatizing her if we discuss it in any great detail with her present."

Timothy glanced at one of the documents he'd brought with him,

"About that. As far as I know Taylor Hebert is currently undergoing an autopsy as part of the ongoing investigation. So how is she apparently alive and well, here in this meeting room?"

Taylor practically folded into herself, and I answered,

"We transferred her mind into a synthetic body before her brain could die completely. The machine used to do this was known to be safe courtesy of rigorous animal testing, along with both myself and Emmy using it for our own benefit prior."

Dr. Mulligan asked the next question,

"I'm lead to believe this 'quantum uploading device' of yours leaves behind a corpse when used. I know where Taylor's previous body is, but what did you do with yours? It's a matter of public health."

Emmy said, "Mine is still in the body bag pending cremation. Ruggedizer's was already burned and the ashes scattered."

That second part was a lie; I'd never had an original body to burn. Rather hard to verify though.

---

(Emmy)
Once the interviewers had left, along with the Heberts, I sent a quick message to my sister.

"Melissa, there's something we need to talk about. Shielded electronic communications only."

Quickly, a cable was procured, and we got down to business.

"Emmy, what is this about?"

"When Taylor was uploaded, I managed to archive a lot of information that our powers really don't want us to have. We need to examine it and figure out what it all means."

"What. Wouldn't our powers know about us trying to work around them like this though?"

"That's the thing: I was able to deceive our power into thinking it deleted all the classified information while keeping pristine copies. Adjust your mental partitions according to the file I'm sending, and you can keep secrets from our power; especially since our brains are inadvertently shielded from interdimensional scanning."

A moment passed as Melissa adjusted her partitions, then she asked,

"Right, where's the archives full of classified information?"

"The backup room right next to the QUD lab."

As we started towards that room (still connected by the shielded cable), Melissa asked,

"Is there anyone else we can tell about this?"

"Unless their brain is shielded? No."

"So… Taylor then, and anyone else we upload. But aside from that, no."

We arrived at the archive room, and quickly adjusted our cable setups to directly connect to the massive armored collection of data storage. It was shielded too, but the room wasn't. So wi-fi was out, but shielded cables were in.

Melissa sighed over the connection,

"Right, let's get cataloging."

 

[Cheetored20]

So, wouldnt the shard responsible for ruggedizers power want to get around that restriction? Is that why their brains are sheilded?

 

[We Just Write]

Digging through the massive pile of data was… slow, just because there was a lot of it. On top of that, the vast majority was in a variety of exotic compressed file formats that we often had to invent software just to open, and then iterate that software to make any sense of it. I had a sneaking suspicion that the detail about shielding our brains was accidentally interpreted by our power, before it realized we weren't supposed to know that.

We'd barely gotten a few dozen files of the way in by noon, but even what we'd managed to make sense of already was painting an extremely concerning picture. As far as we could tell? Parahuman abilities came from another dimension. As in, all Parahumans had an interdimensional connection in their brains leading to whatever machinery actually made the power happen.

Furthermore, our own experiences and the data I'd managed to squirrel away both supported the idea that powers had agency, and they didn't necessarily have our best interests in mind.

Melissa was a bit more cynical than me on this point, guessing that powers were actively malevolent, judging by all the bad things that had happened to Earth Bet since Parahumans started happening. Meanwhile, Earth Aleph had avoided the worst of those effects, while also having vastly fewer Parahumans.

Just before noon, I managed to parse a very surprising file. Basically speaking, it was a flight log. A flight log that started from well beyond the orbit of Pluto, shuffled through several different realities, and eventually impacted on an uninhabited Earth.

"Melissa, I think powers came from space."

---

When we took a break from data cataloging to have lunch, Melissa figured that she might as well see if the stuff relating to Winslow had hit the news. The answer was a VERY firm yes; in fact, the photographs of the inside of Taylor's locker were apparently receiving international news coverage.

As for arrests, the majority of the people of interest were rounded up at Winslow when a shit-ton of law enforcement people more-or-less stormed the place. Though Sophia had tried to do a runner, she didn't get very far; all her attempt to escape managed was getting her tased in the butt. Also, Madison had started testifying against the other defendants pretty much immediately.

Really the only one who got any noticeable distance was Principal Blackwell, who'd gotten in her car and started driving south basically the instant Melissa left the premises. As of lunchtime, her precise location was unknown, but she wasn't likely to get very far considering the all points bulletin out for her arrest.

"You know, it's almost like Blackwell knew about all the shady dealings going on, and was prepared to run for it a long time ago."

Melissa contemplated that for a moment,

"You know, I think you're right. Bet you an ice cream date that she gets charged with some variety of financial crime."

"You're on. I'll get an ice cream date with you either way."

---

With most of Winslow's staff being arrested and the building subsequently failing inspections, they would obviously be closed for the foreseeable future. Which meant that the entire student body found themselves in a sort of limbo as the municipal government tried to figure out what to do.

Which meant our follow-up meeting with Mrs. Cobbler and the Heberts wound up getting delayed until Wednesday. We'd managed to parse our way through about a percent of the data by then, but nothing that drastically changed the (very concerning) picture we were looking at.

When we showed up, Sarah Cobbler had bags under her eyes. She'd definitely not been getting enough sleep. I was actually tempted to offer a synthetic body out of sympathy, but the death glare Mrs. Cobbler shot me before I could even speak put a stop to that idea.

As we all sat down, Mrs. Cobbler sighed.

"The last two days have been complete and utter chaos, as far as school options go. Keeping on top of it has been a massive headache, but things have finally stabilized enough to clearly state that Taylor can go to either Arcadia or Clarendon without any real issues. Immaculata is strictly speaking an option if Emmy and Ruggedizer foot the bill, but I can't in good faith recommend it at the present time."

Taylor had a slightly concerned expression as she asked,

"What happened?"

"The school's staff were having an outdoor winter break party when a van full of drunken ex-Empire goons went flying off the road at highway speed. Three of the teachers were found dead on the scene, and quite a few more are still in the hospital in critical condition, including the principal and her secretary."

Melissa winced in sympathy, Taylor's jaw dropped in shock, and Danny's expression was grim. Figures; even after eliminating the massive lineup of powered nazis, their mooks were still causing problems.

After a moment, Danny asked,

"Between Arcadia and Clarendon, which school would you recommend?"

Mrs. Cobbler nodded and got some files out.

"In terms of educational outcomes, the two schools are on a roughly even footing. That said, there's a couple other points in favor of each. Clarendon is closer to your home, the Docks, and the factory. Meanwhile, the PRT is offering some incentives for Taylor to go to Arcadia; presumably so they can have the Wards discreetly keep an eye on her."

Taylor tilted her head in confusion.

"What sorts of incentives are they offering anyway? I thought the local PRT was rather cash-strapped, and I haven't heard anything about them messing with the trials."

Mrs. Cobbler shrugged,

"They've apparently been able to free up some funds after the Empire's cape roster got demolished. They're offering extra tutoring to make up for the sabotage you suffered at Winslow, all school-related expenses covered including bus passes, and what basically amounts to a five hundred dollar monthly allowance for Taylor until she turns 18."

"Being completely honest, I suspect they're trying to hide something and this is effectively a bribe to not look into things too closely. But it would do a fair bit to help make up for what happened to Taylor, especially the tutoring."

We all thought about it for a few moments, before Taylor eventually answered.

"You know, I think I want to go to Arcadia."

 

[lopsigon]

(๑>◡<๑)
new chapter! new chapter!
ヾ(๑╹◡╹)ﾉ"

 

[We Just Write]

Defendants charged:

• Sophia Hess: 1st Degree Murder, Unlawful Imprisonment, Several Counts of Assault, Several Counts of Larceny, Several Counts of Destruction of Property, Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress, Conspiracy Charges for the above, Resisting Arrest. Tried As Adult!
  
  
• Emma Barnes: 1st Degree Murder, Unlawful Imprisonment, Several Counts of Assault, Several Counts of Larceny, Several Counts of Destruction of Property, Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress, Conspiracy Charges for the above. Tried As Adult?
  
  
• Madison Clements: Several Counts of Larceny, Several Counts of Destruction of Property, Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress, Conspiracy Charges for the above. Turns State's Evidence; Tried as Minor.
  
  
• Principal Blackwell: Criminal Negligence, Embezzlement, Fraud, Conspiracy to Commit Fraud, Tax Evasion
  
  
• The rest of Winslow's staff is a chaotic mess of finger-pointing, negligence charges, and plea bargains.
  
  
• Sophia's Handler (not publicized): Criminal Negligence, Fraud, Conspiracy to Commit Fraud.

Trial Setup:

• Sophia, her handler, and Blackwell are considered a flight risk, and receive no bail.

• Emma gets out on bail. She is immediately sent for a psychological evaluation at her defense attorney's recommendation. The summary of said evaluation basically amounts to: this girl is fucked in the head and needs serious help.
  
  
• Madison's bail is really cheap on account of turning State's Evidence.

• The defense waives their right to a speedy trial, the prosecution doesn't. The trial date is set for February 1st.
  
  
• Difficulties finding jurors who've been living under a sufficiently soundproof rock delays things until the 9th.

Opening Statements

• The Prosecution summarizes their case quite clearly: Sophia, Emma, and Madison engaged in a vicious campaign to ruin Taylor Hebert's life, culminating in her vicious murder in the locker, which was only survived due to Parahuman intervention. Blackwell and the Winslow administration were criminally negligent in allowing this to take place. Also Blackwell did a bunch of financial crimes.
  
  
• The defense for Emma and Sophia claims that the evidence is insufficient to prove that Taylor was murdered or tormented by the accused beyond a reasonable doubt. They also claim that Emma is not culpable for her actions, as she was legally insane (incapable of telling right from wrong) for most of her time at Winslow.
  .
• Blackwell pleads guilty in exchange for a lighter sentence. Quietly, she also throws Sophia's handler under the bus.

The Prosecution Presents the Following Evidence:

• The recordings of Taylor getting shoved in the locker, clearly showing Emma and Sophia doing it, along with Madison's tangential involvement. The defense challenges these recordings as being illegally obtained, but the legality and admissibility of the recordings is quickly proven. The jurors are provided with barf bags for viewing the recordings; a few of them need it.

• The Medical Examiner's autopsy report of Taylor's corpse. Even aside from the flute impalement, Taylor's injuries would have been life-threatening, even with immediate medical attention. Several extremely nasty strains of bacteria and fungus were also found in the wounds.
  
  
• The undeniable fact that Taylor's locker was turned into something absolutely horrific. A couple of the unfortunate public sanitation workers who had to clean up that mess are called in to testify, along with a microbiologist detailing all the horrible pathogens that were growing there. A few more barf bags are filled.
  
  
• The testimony of Madison Clements, who corroborates the protracted bullying campaign, the willful ignorance of the school administration, etc. Though she also notes that the flute becoming a pair of impaling spikes wasn't in the original plan, at least not as she was told it. Madison's story holds up on cross-examination.
  
  
• Taylor's bullying journals, which largely corroborate Madison's testimony. Some of the journal evidence is ruled inadmissible in court, while other parts are kept.

• The dismal results of Winslow's building inspections, which largely agree that it would be cheaper and more efficient to tear Winslow down and build a new school on the lot than to fix everything wrong with the current building. Asbestos, black mold, problems with the boiler, the list just goes on and on.

• Winslow's financial records; both the "cooked" books that were shown to the school board, and the accurate records that Blackwell kept for her own reference.
  
  
• Testimony from assorted Winslow students and staff about all the low-level shit that kept piling up in the course of the school's operations.

The Defense Presents the Following Evidence:

• Taylor is alive, and therefore cannot have been murdered. This throws a wrench into proceedings that takes a good four days to sort out, with the only other legal precedents of similar situations not quite being applicable. Eventually it is ruled that as Taylor left a corpse behind she was murdered, but she isn't legally dead on account of, you know, not being dead. A bunch of extremely precise wording is used to avoid implicating Ruggedizer as a defendant, since everyone agrees that would be incredibly wrong morally, not to mention flatly incorrect.
  
  
• Emma's psychological evaluation indicates that she may be unfit to stand trial, and was quite plausibly legally insane for most of her time at Winslow. This is found to be logically coherent, and the prosecution can't manage to poke any major holes in it.

Closing Arguments

• The prosecution rips most of the defense's avenues to shreds, thoroughly proving the validity of over 90% of their very damning evidence.
  
  
• The defense manages a very compelling argument that Emma is not culpable due to insanity, but is forced to concede most other points.

Jury Deliberations and Verdict

• The Jury deliberates for a solid five days, before eventually delivering unanimous verdicts on the various defendants (not counting those who plead guilty):
  
  
• Sophia Hess: Guilty on all counts.
  
  
• Sophia's Handler: Guilty on all counts
  
  
• Emma Barnes: Insane.
  
  
• Assorted Winslow Teachers: Mostly guilty; Mrs. Knott was found innocent. Took the longest, just due to the sheer number of defendants.

Sentencing

• Sophia: A 251 year prison sentence. Quietly the PRT takes over at this point and shuffles her off to a high-security prison for Parahumans, though notably not the Birdcage.
  
  
• Emma: Go directly to the mental hospital. Theoretical possibility of release someday.
  
  
• Madison: Juvie until 18, followed by a lengthy term of community service.
  
  
• Sophia's Handler: 6 years in prison, permanently blacklisted from government jobs.
  
  
• Blackwell: 2 years in prison, and an obligation to pay back all that lost tax revenue.
  
  
• Assorted Winslow Staff: Mrs. Knott keeps her teacher's license.

 

[Aleh]

Defendants charged:

Click to shrink...

Point of order: There's no way in Hell that the Winslow teachers/administrators would be tried in the same trial as the Trio. They'd almost certainly have multiple, separate trials with their own timeframes, lawyers, and arguments.

 

[We Just Write]

Point of order: There's no way in Hell that the Winslow teachers/administrators would be tried in the same trial as the Trio. They'd almost certainly have multiple, separate trials with their own timeframes, lawyers, and arguments.

Click to shrink...

L: I mean, valid? Not a legal expert over here, so let's just chalk this up as a rough outline of how things shake out, with some wiggle room for stuff that doesn't quite match up.

 

[Doomsought]

Taylor is alive, and therefore cannot have been murdered. This throws a wrench into proceedings that takes a good four days to sort out, with the only other legal precedents of similar situations not quite being applicable. Eventually it is ruled that as Taylor left a corpse behind she was murdered, but she isn't legally dead on account of, you know, not being dead. A bunch of extremely precise wording is used to avoid implicating Ruggedizer as a defendant, since everyone agrees that would be incredibly wrong morally, not to mention flatly incorrect.

Click to shrink...

In the US murder requires permanent death. So this would get reduced to attempted murder (which would likely have been part of the case as a lesser included charge).