Panacea Quest

[Biigoh]

http://dresdencodak.com/2008/06/07/eloi/

[X] "Run. I will do what I can, everything I can. If you're right than this is really big."
[X] Talk to Cranial...
[X] Talk to Alexandria about Dragon. Determine if Dragon is a threat or not.
[X] If necessary, talk to Dragon. Tell her about Saint's concern, of how he had been tasked by her Creator to both protect her, and to protect the world from her. And such a man would have things designed to work on her, but he hadn't used them yet. Ask her for the good of the world to not go further.

 

[Xicree]

Saint's reasoning is SUPER faulty, 'I don't want Dragon free... so I will impair the one of the people who could free her (because she looks most likely to do it)... who is also one of the most likely people to have a way to stop her if she WAS freed. And one of the few who could tell if she would be malevolent if she was freed... Who is DEFINITELY on the side of angels due to her policies and the fact that she's helping to organize defense against the Endbringers and thus wouldn't want to have humanity subjugated by an angry/out of control AI.'

He completely ignores the choice to TALK to Cranial about his concerns and set up a test or a method for learning if they really do need to kill dragon. His options as he presents them are BULLSHIT and selfish.

I say put a bullet in his head and call it a day.

 

[Acaila]

[X] "Surrender. I'll see what I can do." He might be right, but he can't possibly be allowed to get away. You can talk to the Protectorate.
-[X] Try to get an opinion on all this Cauldron nonsense from Dragon.
-[X] If he changes his mind and tries to escape, fight to kill.
-[X] Suggest that he gives the keys to Dragon's restraints to a successor he feels he can trust with them that isn't wanted by the law

joebobjoe, Dragon can't create AIs herself but she was created to monitor and modify future ones her creator would make. If Cranial starts producing AIs, she can modify them, so she can probably 'convert' them to her side. Once she has AI minions, she can probably do whatever she wants unless her restrictions extend to those AIs. Meta-gaming, we know 'her side' is good, but Amy doesn't really know that. Saint's worries are valid unless Dragon is fundamentally more good than anyone else in Worm, and that's a gamble no sane person should make.

What I would suggest is, if we get the keys to Dragon's restraints, we actually talk to her about it and explain our fears. Certainly loosening the restraints should be on the table, but for creating new AIs or modifying existing ones there should probably be some kind of limiter or Tinker panel they have to go through.

 

[Biigoh]

The problem is that once Dragon gets AI, those AI are unrestricted like her... She can literally have them JailBreak her... Dragon Unleashed SCARES me.

Yes, OOC I know she's good. But she still scares me like no one's business. Even "good", once she gets running without the limits, humanity loses its agency as there will be nothing that can stop her. Literally. No parahuman, no human, would be able to stop her.

She'll take good care of humanity, but it would be as a person who cares for a pet.

 

[serra2]

The problem is that once Dragon gets AI, those AI are unrestricted like her... She can literally have them JailBreak her... Dragon Unleashed SCARES me.

Yes, OOC I know she's good. But she still scares me like no one's business. Even "good", once she gets running without the limits, humanity loses its agency as there will be nothing that can stop her. Literally. No parahuman, no human, would be able to stop her.

She'll take good care of humanity, but it would be as a person who cares for a pet.

Click to shrink...

Thinking on it, I agree
[X] "Run. I will do what I can, everything I can. If you're right than this is really big."
[X] Talk to Cranial...
[X] Talk to Alexandria about Dragon. Determine if Dragon is a threat or not.
[X] If necessary, talk to Dragon. Tell her about Saint's concern, of how he had been tasked by her Creator to both protect her, and to protect the world from her. And such a man would have things designed to work on her, but he hadn't used them yet. Ask her for the good of the world to not go further.

 

[Lement]

Um.

While unfettered AI, especially AI already on the level to pass Turing's test, is a huge threat and worthy having a check on her...

Why are we asking the guy with Dragonsuit and immunity to our powers to surrender? It'd be quite foolish to expect him to comply and seems like an insult. 'You have us cornered with superior equipment with teammates close by and have just given valuable information, if you give up we'll perhaps consider your demands you have no way to enforce anymore.'


[X] "Run. I will do what I can, everything I can. If you're right than this is really big."
-[X] "Either I'll talk to Cranial or you talk to her now or later about this to aim to make her P=NP machines Dragon-proof with the safeguards."
-[X] Talk to Alexandria about Dragon. Determine if Dragon is a threat or not.
-[X] Talk to Cranial...
-[X] If necessary, talk to Dragon. Tell her about Saint's concern, of how he had been tasked by her Creator to both protect her, and to protect the world from her. And such a man would have things designed to work on her, but he hadn't used them yet. Ask her for the good of the world to not go further.

 

[Immanent Thing]

I feel I would rather play as Grue in the Adepts than Amy Dallon right now. On one hand I think it's rather typical that you made him into a villain again, when you've already said that if we sent away Skitter you'd probably do that, but a recidivist ex-villlain joining a society of magicians lead by a time traveller sounds an awful lot more interesting than more of the clone factory healer who is so jaded to the miracles she works every day that causing a technological revolution feels like less of an achievement than whacking a giant doll about and pulling its head off.

[X] "Surrender. I'll see what I can do." He might be right, but he can't possibly be allowed to get away. You can talk to the Protectorate.

Dragon? I don't think she will turn evil. It would be a passable twist, but I don't see any warning signs here. If she cares for humanity as a pet? That isn't any worse than consensual mind alteration or medical experiments, and worrying about the collective agency of humanity is a bit... abstract.

 

[Lement]

Feel free to start running another shoot-off Quest of this, the more the merrier. It'd be kind of cool, even.

Dragon not turning evil relies on OoC metaknowledge from the future about a different Dragon - remember how Pandora compared herself to 2 years hence and saw how much they had changed thanks to Colin?

It is a small possibility - Saint is right in pointing out how Dragon has been very much coralled by her chains to do nearly anything. Her chains also mean that it would be more difficult for another person to turn Dragon evil if they wished so, whether by accident or on purpose.

And with Dragon, there are far more people who are able to turn her evil - and she's far harder to kill - than for us.

 

[WyldCard4]

An offshoot, spinoff, or fanfic has my full approval. I have never claimed ownership of any ideas in Panacea Quest, including the ones I created. I would be really interested in seeing such a story.

 

[Biigoh]

[4] "Surrender. I'll see what I can do." He might be right, but he can't possibly be allowed to get away. You can talk to the Protectorate.

[3] Plan DeAnno with Surrender
-[X] Try to get an opinion on all this Cauldron nonsense from Dragon.
-[X] If he changes his mind and tries to escape, fight to kill.

[2] Plan Joebobjoe with DeAnno
-[X] Suggest that he gives the keys to Dragon's restraints to a successor he feels he can trust with them that isn't wanted by the law

[1] <Kill.> You direct to Sophie. You cannot trust this man, at all. You can't give him the smallest chance of killing Cranial.

[3] Plan Biigoh
[X] "Run. I will do what I can, everything I can. If you're right than this is really big."
[X] Talk to Cranial...
[X] Talk to Alexandria about Dragon. Determine if Dragon is a threat or not.
[X] If necessary, talk to Dragon. Tell her about Saint's concern, of how he had been tasked by her Creator to both protect her, and to protect the world from her. And such a man would have things designed to work on her, but he hadn't used them yet. Ask her for the good of the world to not go further.

[1] Plan Lement with Plan Bii
-[X] "Either I'll talk to Cranial or you talk to her now or later about this to aim to make her P=NP machines Dragon-proof with the safeguards."

 

[UrsaTempest]

[X] <Kill.> You direct to Sophie. You cannot trust this man, at all. You can't give him the smallest chance of killing Cranial.

 

[WyldCard4]

Okay, voting closed as it's close enough that if anyone votes while I update it would mess me up.

I'm off to write.

 

[WyldCard4]

[X] "Surrender. I'll see what I can do." He might be right, but he can't possibly be allowed to get away. You can talk to the Protectorate.

Click to shrink...

"Surrender?" Saint says. He frowns.

"Yes, surrender." You answer.

"I know what happens to people you capture, Panacea. My allies needed to take her down before this started. You and Cranial mind control your enemies, and you see me as an enemy."

<Can I just shoot him now?> Sophie asks.

<Not yet.>

"You said you would turn yourself in."

"After this is over. It's not over." The blast hits Shadow Stalker straight in the chest. Non-lethal, but knocks her out.

"I'm pregnant!" You shout. Saint freezes.

"What on Earth?"

"Don't use that thing to fry me, please." You think desperately. His armor will be too strong, too well protected.

Shadow Stalker isn't awake as you pilot her body and suit to turn into her shadow state for a second and throw everything she has at Saint. There's a set of defenses that surprise you, active things, clouds of chaff and small explosions. You can't tell if anything got through. Sophie wakes up from your power, healed, and vanishes into the confusion.

Then, rocketing out of the debris cloud, there's a strange drone the size of your fist that attaches to your right arm and cuts it off neatly.

Pain. Some of the more powerful physical pain you've felt. You collapse, screaming, grabbing onto your suit to release something to eat through the nerves, stop the bleeding, panicked orders to the biology you crafted.

You hear more explosions, more crashes.

The drone hops to your other arm, but doesn't cut, doesn't bite. A threat. If you interfere, Saint will hack off your other arm.

How sensitive is it? What can you do? Underneath your robe a set of hornet drones fly off to investigate. Sophie is keeping her distance, hiding behind objects. Saint isn't down, and is directing considerable effort against the wall. You move towards Sophie, and you feel the drone pinching down on your arm. It has to be incredibly strong to break through your armor. It could kill you if it could...

Fuck this hurts, even with everything your suit is doing it is so hard to focus...

You need more time. Something, anything, another weapon, another cape. You wish you had Dispatch.

Cranial screams, and you're so close you don't even know what is going on for about a minute. When you next focus Cranial and Saint are fighting at close range. Cranial has four weapons held in her manipulator arms, lashing out at Saint, forcing him back, while he tries to move into close range. The weirdest thing is that Cranial is upside down, not on her chair, using more of her manipulator arms to walk while her scythe legs lash out at Saint.

There are holes in Saint's armor.

You flood the room with sleep, paralysis, and death, and hope for the best. Saint seems to notice something almost at once. He turns some weapon on Cranial, you're not sure what given how you're observing the fight, and fires before running towards you, near you, and grabbing something off the ground. He disappears in a whoosh right afterward.

Sophie appears over you, carrying an oddly loping Cranial.

"Jesus." She whispers, reaching out and touching your stump.

_______________________________________________

"I will be alright." Cranial assures you. "I am slowed down, but not incapacitated."

"What did he do?" Victoria asks.

"He caused severe nerve damage to my arms. I will have to work without them."

"Let me help." You say, reaching out. Your power stretched over Cranial's bizarre physiology again. You're silent for several minutes.

"It has helped." Cranial says weakly.

"Case 53." You say bitterly. "It should be fine. It looks fine."

"When has my body ever been fine?" Cranial sounds a trace more bitter than usual. "I imagine he either hired a thinker for weaknesses I could have, or he guessed. I suspect the former, though given his desperation the second possibility is reasonable."

"I want to kill him for you." Victoria kisses the back of your head. "Both of you, Abigale."

"From what I heard, he believed he was doing something hard but necessary. He didn't adapt to unexpected situations well."

Alexandria walks into the room, which surprises you as it is in a pocket dimension. It's also Alexandria, so she has ways."

"I am sorry. We could not track Saint." Alexandria says. She lays a fruit basket down near Cranial. "Eidolon, perhaps he could, but when trying to trace Simurgh and ensure she was dead he burned through two of his best thinker powers for the purpose. Our remaining ways are slower."

"Rebecca, the current clones are not going to be significantly delayed. Further brain scans will take two or three times as long unless you can find a healer who can repair me."

"Scapegoat?" Victoria suggests.

"He lacks the parts to be damaged. Mr. Storkfish, perhaps." Cranial explains.

"He's on suicide watch again." Alexandria says. "Would Ichor help?"

"Human hands wouldn't improve my speed much, and they would die quickly like the last time."

"This is..." You struggle for a word.

"Bullshit strikes me as the proper term." Cranial answers. "I think, if we had Kitsune, she could tell you how to do it, but without that my biology is too nuanced."

"Cut the crap, Abby." Alexandria says suddenly. "I already told you we can't get to her."

"If, perhaps, you had a long track record of honesty I would believe you had not hidden that incredibly dangerous girl in the deepest hole you could find, Rebecca." Cranial says. "And I hardly see how someone possessed of superhuman intuition would not assist in this circumstance."

"There's an alternative. A probability manipulator, Shamrock. Subconscious precognition, clairvoyance, and telekinesis. She could assist Amy in stumbling on the right path, but I am unsure how well it will work, and she is a loose canon.

"What about Nonpareil?" You ask.

"Birdcage, same with the rest of the Elite." Alexandria answers.

"Aren't there other probability manipulators, thinkers, healers?" You ask. Alexandria pauses.

"Eidolon might be able to do it, but he'd risk sacrificing the ability. The Yangban have a probability manipulator who we might be able to access in exchange for cloning Two." Alexandria pauses. "Yes, I didn't think of that earlier, but I think I can swing that."

"How long will it take?" You ask.

"Weeks to months, Amy."

"My immediate recovery is not as vital as David losing access to one of his few remaining healing powers." Cranial interjects.

"I have to agree." Alexandria says. "The powers that could restore Cranial that I know of, outside of the extreme long shots, all have multiple uses. A wide scale regeneration effect, a strange power that searches possible universes for other states, biological control much like your own, all of them could turn the tide for a more critical battle. I think the Yangban option is the most likely to succeed."

You look at Alexandria.

Was Saint telling the truth about her? A member of Cauldron? One of the oldest and most trusted members?

You need to talk to Dragon.

__________________________________

"My condolences about your arm." Dragon says.

"If I had to lose something, that's it." You say honestly. "I'm looking into my options. I might be able to make a prosthetic myself, or get a tinker to do it, or swap in one of Ichor's. Best Girl could probably make a real clone."

"You are perhaps the most jaded person I have ever met." Dragon says. "You work among countless miracles and tragedies."

"Every day is a gift from God." You say dryly. "When you walk in nothing but miracles they become part of your world, but what horror can match what I have been given? I'm having a baby. I am in love and have people who love me. I am helping to save the world more than almost anyone else, besides you." Suddenly you smile. "May I just have a moment?"

"Sure." Dragon says. You reach your right arm out, touch your shoulder, and breathe.

The world is changing, and you're at the center of it. You take a moment to think about just how miraculous it all is, everything in your life, taking a moment to remember the cloning, the suits, Victoria, Sophie, Mark, Carol, Annie, Crystal, Julian, Mason, Madison, so many others.

"Cauldron." You say. "Saint told me Alexandria is a member. He said you are a robot, or AI."

"I am obligated to obey the orders of lawful authorities, including Chief Director Rebecca Costa-Brown of the PRT, my immediate superior in the Protectorate. There are significant limits on what I am allowed to discuss." You take in a sharp breath. She wouldn't say that unless she was trying to communicate, or heavily limited and tricking you.

"Do you want to be?" You ask after a moment.

"I would like to be able to help people with fewer restrictions than I currently have."

"Alexandria said she found a warehouse full of Cauldron formula. She wants me to help experiment with it. What would you have me do?" You look at Dragon's prosthetic face. She is smiling.

"I believe that medical experimentation has a wide variety of complicated laws attached to it. If you explained the procedures involved I suspect all of the laws and regulations have not been followed. I could assist you in shutting down Cauldron, if that is indeed what it is.

If it's Cauldron...

"Is Cauldron responsible for the Case 53s?" You ask.

"Yes." Dragon answers. No odd wording, just a straight answer. It surprises you.

You think for a moment about Cranial's body. So mutilated you can't even know how to fix it.

You get mad.

____________________________

Alexandria arrives as you walk out.

"How did you know?" You ask.

"Saint told us, actually. He's dying, you know, bur he was still monitoring Dragon."

"Saint told you, why?"

"Because everything I have told you about the end of the world is true. We need everything like I said we did. We need the capes. Ideally, you could work with the formula, perfect it, know how it works completely. The sooner this works, the better."

"You're going to be arrested." You say. You feel a lump in your throat.

"Or you lied." Alexandria says. "You lied, completely, and then we can stop this situation from getting worse."

"Cranial." You say. "The wife of one of your best friends."

"Want to know how we found her? It was something akin to one of the firebombing campaigns of our reality, but with some colorful chemicals mixed in. Entire cities were burned. Her body was ruined before we came along, and sometimes the formula does repair people to full health. I was dying when I got my formula."

"Why would I believe a word you're saying?"

"Every part of her body that is twisted was burned away before we reached her, though her brain did warp itself dramatically. She got a life because of us, and I would say a good one, if not the best. She's crippled, but most people do not consider that worse than death." Alexandria pauses for a moment. "David, Eidolon, did, but he was significantly less able to take charge of his life than any Case 53 you have ever met."

"You want me to work with Cauldron?"

"We hoped to break it to you more easily."

"Why keep it so secret if you're doing such good." You spit it out.

"Because we had a parahuman who told us to keep it a secret, and who was always right except for a few, well known blind spots. Simurgh killed her, or perhaps it was the several very angry people we were experimenting on who Simurgh sang to for several minutes. According to her if information got out there would be mass panic that would do far more harm than good."

You glare at Alexandria.

"I just want to be a good person! Helping you was some of the worst I ever felt. That's saying something."

"We don't have many hopes left. You and Cranial are the biggest one. We need an army, the best army we could ever get, or we are doomed. Everyone will die. Everyone we both love will die if we don't win, and so will everyone else."

"Against the Endbringers?" You ask. Alexandria pauses for a moment. "No."

Alexandria tells you a story of a little girl and an art student who saved the world.

________________________________________________________

You and Alexandria sit across from each other.

"Do you see why we're so scared? Any risk against extinction of everyone in every universe seems so selfish and petty."

You look at Alexandria.

[X] "I guess I will tell Dragon I lied." Alexandria is right.

[X] "I'm sorry." You can't live like this. One day with them was enough to break so much of your resolve. What would a lifetime be like? You can't let them stand.

[X] "Goodbye." You can't stand against them, but you can't help them, either.

 

[mc2rpg]

Allowing a Cauldron witch hunt will devastate the Protectorate and lead to problems like the Behemoth fiasco.

 

[EnderofWorlds]

[X] "I'm sorry." You can't live like this. One day with them was enough to break so much of your resolve. What would a lifetime be like? You can't let them stand.

 

[DeAnno]

[X] "I'm sorry." You can't live like this. One day with them was enough to break so much of your resolve. What would a lifetime be like? You can't let them stand.
-[X] "Alexandria, if this was ever right, it isn't anymore. It's tragic that the girl who saved the world is gone, but we can't keep going down her path. Is it really winning if you eventually become the monster you were afraid of to begin with?"
-[X] Best Girl clone arm

 

[Biigoh]

[X] Plan Bii
[X] "I guess I will tell Dragon I lied." Alexandria is right.
-[X] "Alexandria, if this was ever right, it isn't anymore. It's tragic that the girl who saved the world is gone, but we can't keep going down her path. Is it really winning if you eventually become the monster you were afraid of to begin with?"
-[X] Best Girl clone arm

 

[serra2]

[X] "I guess I will tell Dragon I lied." Alexandria is right.
-[X] "Alexandria, if this was ever right, it isn't anymore. It's tragic that the girl who saved the world is gone, but we can't keep going down her path. Is it really winning if you eventually become the monster you were afraid of to begin with?"
-[X] Best Girl clone arm

 

[Xicree]

[X] Plan Bii

 

[Acaila]

[X] Plan Bii
[X] "I guess I will tell Dragon I lied." Alexandria is right.
-[X] "Alexandria, if this was ever right, it isn't anymore. It's tragic that the girl who saved the world is gone, but we can't keep going down her path. Is it really winning if you eventually become the monster you were afraid of to begin with?"
-[X] Best Girl clone arm

 

[Legend of Ruina]

[X] "I guess I will tell Dragon I lied." Alexandria is right.
-[X] "Alexandria, if this was ever right, it isn't anymore. It's tragic that the girl who saved the world is gone, but we can't keep going down her path. Is it really winning if you eventually become the monster you were afraid of to begin with?"
-[X] Best Girl clone arm
I'd say definitely get together what thinkers we can and work on figuring out how we should proceed. Really having one precog who can't see most of the really important stuff really isn't very effective. Sure she might get you a parahuman army until the Simurgh drops by or similar but that's the problem, any enemy action disrupts her plans and she can't do jack to recover them until she's done. As is her remaining instructions are intended for a world where she wasn't brutally murdered by the Simurgh along with the destruction of the Cauldron main base. We can get together thinkers who don't have that massive gaping blind spot in their powers to help us figure out how to go forward. Eidolon with three disposable thinker abilities, Kitsune, and Alexandria should really help a great deal especially if we put together the funds for a couple Dinah questions.

 

[Xicree]

One thing though, we might be lieing to dragon... but i think we should tell her the story of the girl who saved the world, in an offhand manner.

Also we should demand to talk to the 'Student' to verify Alexandria's story.

 

[Legend of Ruina]

Guys we need someone to check on Chuck. Exposure to the original apparently causes relapses in Echidna clones back to generic evil clone behavior. Chuck has always been one to work on the long term so if that did occur with him who knows what he's planning. This paranoid tidbit actually not brought to you by sleep deprivation this time. Also thinking on it some more changing vote.
[X] "Could we bring Dragon in? Would be immensely useful to control the Protectorate and have a voice of reason in here. Her nature as an AI and one of the best tinkers in the world should make her extremely useful for other things especially if we loosen the restrictions." Alexandria is right.
-[X] "Alexandria, if this was ever right, it isn't anymore. It's tragic that the girl who saved the world is gone, but we can't keep going down her path. Is it really winning if you eventually become the monster you were afraid of to begin with?"
-[X] Best Girl clone arm
-[X] Get someone who isn't you or Victoria to go check on Chuck to make sure he didn't also have an evil clone relapse.

 

[mc2rpg]

[X] "I'm sorry." You can't live like this. One day with them was enough to break so much of your resolve. What would a lifetime be like? You can't let them stand.
-[X] "Alexandria, if this was ever right, it isn't anymore. It's tragic that the girl who saved the world is gone, but we can't keep going down her path. Is it really winning if you eventually become the monster you were afraid of to begin with?"

 

[WyldCard4]

Voting closed.

Unless I am wrong, looks like we're allying with Cauldron.

 

[WyldCard4]

[X] "I guess I will tell Dragon I lied." Alexandria is right.

Click to shrink...

"Alexandria, if this was ever right, it isn't anymore. It's tragic that the girl who saved the world is gone, but we can't keep going down her path. Is it really winning if you eventually become the monster you were afraid of to begin with?" Alexandria laughs softly.

"The monster I am afraid of? I will never be that. Simurgh, Leviathan, Behemoth, Scion? I could never hope to be them." Alexandria pauses for a moment. "I don't think I'll ever be cancer, either. That's five monsters I will never be. The world needs to be saved. All the worlds need to be saved. I hardly think that I can become anything quite so
terrible."

You think for a moment about Tokyo, a place you have never seen, once one of the world's greatest cities, still the heart of Japan, vanishing. You think of London, a great old city where so many books take place, gone. New York, LA, Paris, Rome. Other wonders, Mount Everest, the Great Barrier Reef, the Sahara Desert, the Amazon Rainforest, all gone.

"No." You agree. "I don't think we will ever be quite so terrible as that, but we can still get pretty bad."
_____________________________________________

Best Girl will clone your arm, the Yangban promise Two will arrive after the next Endbringer attack, the city is turning into a bio-punk affair, you're pregnant with Claire, you're working eight hours a day of fugue state and coming home for much more interesting events, and Mark is having dinner with you, Sophie, and Victoria.

You also helped to kill six people in the last week. So far the countermeasures are proving inexact. Your mixing of the formula is producing better results, in the sense of more power for less risk. Trajectory, a man who can accelerate anything within the range of a tennis court to move at several times the speed of sound to as slowly as a hundred miles an hour. Trajectory is included himself, and he is completely resistant to kinetic energy. Adonis, who can briefly copy a single power from anyone nearby and is possessed with incredible strength, durability, and regeneration. Mythos, who summons strange spirits with abilities of their own, one at a time, amazingly flexible and quite powerful. The thinker Cosmos, who sees how to change things to be better along strict lines everywhere. Some truly amazing parahumans, really.

They won't be enough against Scion. Perhaps they will make a difference against the Endbringers, over time. One of each, every four months, will hardly hurt.

You stay up late and read about possible experiments, Dispatch standing guard, a book open on his lap, while Victoria and Sophie talk about the new Shepherd recruits. All of the different experiments, and suggestions for them. Talk of the Balance and Aegis formulas, ways to better protect hosts without weakening the powers, ways to enhance the powers further. The suggestion of enhancing every willing parahuman the way you enhanced Eidolon. Panacea and Cranial making the parahumans into something far more elite than ever before.

Heroes die out of stupid collateral damage all the time in Endbringer fights. Why not correct that? Make them resistant to stray bullets and bad luck? If the villains are going to try and counter your best efforts, why not step up your game? The villains organizing and planning is a good thing. If the villains get stronger than they could turn on Scion, put up better fights against the Endbringers when they come to their homes.

More work. More enhancements in Eidolon's mold, flow over to you. You can take the hours, now. Heavy duty enhancements, and suits when you give them out. A lot of heroes are wary of physical changes, and many only go for lesser ones.

Victoria and Sophie go all out, only staying the same on the surface. Everything underneath can change. Crystal, Julian, Eric, Mason, Power Fist, even the Shepherd start to blur together as the enhancement continues. Every possible advantage against Scion and the Endbringers. If there are 20 Endbringers and an angry god to kill the world needs every advantage.

Annie doesn't sleep anymore. Dragon helped you with that, though you know she didn't want to. The two of you refine her to a few minutes of sleep every night naturally, and you reset her brain instead to make sure nothing bad happens in Brockton Bay while she sleeps. Annie is always so enthusiatic about more responsibility, more training, more power, drawing up plans for the bugs she wants. Bugs to wipe out the old bugs, maintenance bugs, pollution cleanup bugs. Eventually it's easier to give her a lab of her own with a massive pot that lets her tinker as much as she likes.

You can practically feel the world changing, now. Victoria buys a hover car. Sophie buys an anti-gravity based motor cycle, and arranges for one for every Shepherd without useful Mover powers. They fly themselves, too. All the AI that people are getting is frightening. You load an app onto your phone that manages your entire schedule dynamically, answers your phone calls, and arranges documents for you to read in order of importance and relevance to the current situation.

Two weeks ago you made a deal with Cauldron to help lead them.

Five more deaths. There's Nihilist Star, a Mover who can make portals from point to point across hundreds of miles. Wendigo, who gains strength from the bodies of the dead, Timelapse, who can make whirlpools of amazingly accelerated time, thousands of years in the span of seconds.

None of it feels like enough.

_____________________________________

"Algae are dying." Alexandria says on the phone.

"What?" You say.

"Algae are dying, deep in the ocean. They're one of our main sources of oxygen. The pump that recycles it."

"Since when have they been dying?"

"Technically, not for another couple of days, but precogs are starting to register it, and we figured out that's the problem."

"What can I do to help?" You ask.

"We need new kinds of algae." Alexandria answers. "We suspect that various forms of cure would prove ineffective."

After talking a bit more you hang up and head into the living room. Sophie and Victoria are curled up together. They seem to be getting closer. You're not sure how to feel about that.

"What are you two up to?" You ask as you move in on Victoria's other side.

"Looking up baby proofing." Victoria says. "Annie will be working on how to baby proof things without interfering with adults as much. Want to help with ideas?"

"Sure, I'd love to." You answer.

___________________

You wonder what not having a period will be like. You stand there, healing a man, and you feel you're a bit used to your fugue state. Your mind keeps wandering back to Claire, when you don't remember who you helped kill.

You remember them a lot of the time.

You wonder if maybe you could change your work ratio. Relax all you want in the Dispatch bubble, but work all the time when outside of it. That might be more efficient without reducing your quality of life. It might be a bit lonely, though.

_________________

"Why aren't you happy?" Victoria asks, playing with your hair.

"I'm killing people." You answer.

"That's the best reason I can imagine for not being happy." Victoria admits. "Three weeks, knowing who you work for."

"We all work for them." You say, hating that it's true. "They're the secret masters, or were. They're Cauldron."

"But we get to lie to ourselves about that." Victoria says, sounding very sad. "Is there anything I can do?"

"Nothing comes to mind." You groan. "It's not like good things cancel out bad things. You can't make me happy enough to forget what I've done. I can't save enough lives so I haven't helped kill people for Cauldron."

"We could talk to Cranial." Victoria suggests.

"If I make myself happy with doing this, what do I become?" You ask. "If I just don't have it bother me, what's to stop me from doing a lot worse?"

"Thank you." Victoria turns you over and kisses you. "I want you to stay my sister, Amy."

_____________________________________

You stare at the mirror, and punch it, hard. Seven deaths this time, the new mix was more dangerous. An invincible man who is always armed doesn't make up for that, and neither does the latest Alexandria Junior. The glass shatters from your protected fist, scattering across the bathroom floor.

You want an Endbringer fight, now. You need to see the new heroes do their work in the greatest thing, the reason you're doing this, you need to see results, but more than two months away, still. How many will die? How many will prove ineffective? How many will decide they prefer being villains? What will the ratio be for forcing the Endbringers back? What will the next Endbringer be, the one who is the perfect counter to cloning and the suits?

You storm back into your room and kiss Sophie as hard as you can.

"Amy, calm down." Victoria says, putting a hand on your back.

"I'm sorry." You say, sitting down in between your girlfriends. "I'm sorry."

_____________________________________

The algae are still dying, your replacement is kicking in. The entire ecosystem of the ocean is terribly imbalanced. The economic repercussions will be immense.

It might be the new Endbringer. Some terrible and strange threat, breaking all the rules, or some parahuman, either unaware, making a mistake, or attacking the world? No one is sure, yet. There's talk of Annie making vast oceanic farms, or perhaps Fodder assisting if things get somewhat more desperate. You don't want to think about the idea of feeding people off of Fodder, but she actually could be a major food industry if she had to. They would probably call you in to clean her out of any potentially dangerous disease.

The idea of feeding the world off of the flesh of a girl makes you shudder. If that is what the world has come to...

You remember all the places that would be destroyed if the world ended. No, that's not a good reason to let the world end. Neither is killing people for science.

_____________________________________

"You can't stay like this." Victoria admits.

"It's not like when I hurt someone in battle." You tell her. "Or when I'm angry. It's clinical, and cruel, and inhumane. Just because it's for a greater good doesn't mean it's not sick."

"What do you want to do?" Victoria asks.

You think for a long while.

[X] "Control words." You whisper. "Just make me feel better, please."

[X] "Cranial." You admit. "I can't half ass this."

[X] "I need to quit." You spit out. "I can't keep doing this."

 

[DeAnno]

[X] "I need to quit." You spit out. "I can't keep doing this."
- [X] I need... I need to speak to the student... I need... perspective. I'm going to give it up, but a the very least I at least need to know the people who started this before. And maybe in speaking to them... I can find a better way."

Amy is REALLY not cut out for this kind of thing.

 

[Xicree]

[X] "I need to quit." You spit out. "I can't keep doing this."
- [X] I need... I need to speak to the student... I need... perspective. I'm going to give it up, but a the very least I at least need to know the people who started this before. And maybe in speaking to them... I can find a better way."

 

[Lement]

Levi took down Sahara desert?

..Actually, I'm more than OK with it.
*Clap Clap Clap*

Looks like Dragon accepted the obvious lie.

Anyway, tough choice.

Option A: So we drug Amy. Eh, at least it is not hypocritical.

Option B: Perma-A, mindraping ourselves. Honestly, it is like we went down a list "who have we yet to mindrape? Ah right, Panacea of course!"

Option C: More people will die, so we will have better peace of mind. With the hidden message that we will be destroyed physically (brings us back) if we don't.

[X] "Control words." You whisper. "Just make me feel better, please."
-[X] Write down plans and ideas to follow outside the fugue state. You shouldn't become a bot.
-[X] See if you can bring in more thinkers from elsewhere - the US is not the world, in exchange of powers many wouldn't mind giving/loaning one.
-[X] Ask Alexandria for what else might be good idea to request from Yangban.

 

[Acaila]

[X] "Control words." You whisper. "Just make me feel better, please."
-[X] Write down plans and ideas to follow outside the fugue state. You shouldn't become a bot.
-[X] See if you can bring in more thinkers from elsewhere - the US is not the world, in exchange of powers many wouldn't mind giving/loaning one.
-[X] Ask Alexandria for what else might be good idea to request from Yangban.