Amelia, Worm AU [Complete]

[Spetz N9ne]

Man Power - They don't call me that for nothing, babe
Lady Photon - You can just call me Photon MILF
Dauntless - I promise every time will be better than the last
Dragon - I've got soooo many toys
Shatterbird - Want to hear me scream?
Number Man - I am 100% sure you are going to enjoy this

 

[Deathwings]

Especially when that thinker power happily assures you with "You can tear her to pieces and there's nothing she can do about it". Which was true. Nothing Taylor could done to stop her.

Click to shrink...

Really ? She doesn't have any control over Victoria's armor then ? That's kind of a break from the usual design.

 

[TanaNari]

Amelia, Ch 192- Victoria


Skitter turned and didn't speak another word as she walked into the holographic simulation of Baal's lair. It wasn't really a hologram so much as a ghost imprint involving something to do with allowing light to cross dimensions or something like that. Trevor and Emma tried to explain it to me a couple times, but despite who I apparently inherited my power from, I still had to sum up the whole conversation as 'tinker bullshit' and be done with it.


What I wouldn't give for them trying to explain it again, so I could ignore the news I just got. Amy was in love with me. My old power forced it to happen. I had no words for how fucked up that was. No wonder they didn't want to talk about it. Well, that made the next part simple: we wouldn't talk about it. Now I just needed a way to not have to think about it. Smashing the faces of a bunch of Endbringer worshiping psychopaths would be an excellent way to do that.


"Holy shit," Skitter growled as we passed through the wall and into the side of their compound. There were bones hanging from the walls, and it didn't take my powers to identify them as human. "Are those fake?" she asked, sounding unnerved for the first time since I met her.


"No," I replied. "Very real."


There were a number of people here, all armed to the teeth. "Where the hell did they get military guns?" I asked. I wasn't really a firearms expert, but living in Brockton Bay, you pick up at least a general idea of most weapons.


"There are ways," Skitter answered. "All it takes is money and knowing the right people. These fuckers have a lot of money."


We kept moving through the halls, sticking our heads through walls to find more information where we could, the Zerglings taking flanking positions around us for reasons I was fairly certain were subconscious on her part. They didn't have dimension jumping, after all. I found a large storehouse full of munitions. "They've got enough explosives in here to destroy the whole compound," I exclaimed.


"I could shunt over a Razorbat and set them off," Skitter suggested. Not to me, I realized. I could tell by her reaction that she didn't like the response she got from whomever was at mission control this time. Probably Tattletale. "Fuck, they have captives."


Of course they do, I sighed inwardly.


"It's just a scouting mission, anyway," she reminded me. "We're only here to gather info and see if your power knows a way to beat them. Dinah's power only tells us the odds, and Lisa's only comes up with ideas."


We worked our way through the ghostly imitation of the compound. It was fairly large, all considered, and built almost entirely out of concrete. A fortress capable of withstanding almost anything short of a military assault, or parahumans. "Can't you use your freaky bug powers to find who we're looking for?" I asked.


"Not without alerting them," she answered. "Minerva's tried that angle, and she's pretty sure Lilith's power would detect it if I tried. The other most likely possibility is that there's a third parahuman in the compound that would spot it. Same with using a mapping scanner. We're not certain why watching from here doesn't set them off. Probably because their thinker can't reach across dimensional layers or something. Dinah says we're safe, the rest is just guesswork."


"Split up?" I suggested. "Lots of space to cover, and I can go a lot faster if I don't have to stay near you."


"Fine, but I expect you to report back to me if you find anything," she insisted.


"Yeah, sure," I turned and bolted, trusting my boosted senses to keep me informed despite my moving at over sixty miles an hour. Most of the compound was boring. There was a good amount of farmland outside the first building we entered, surprisingly enough. I didn't recognize the crops in question, but I did recognize slave labor when I saw it. There wasn't any other reason to have men armed with assault rifles threatening the workers. Pity sound didn't carry over to the side we were viewing. There's an idea. I hit the com system. "Hey, Riley?" I started. "Could you get lip reading into those knowledge upgrades?"


"That's a really smart idea!" Riley exclaimed happily. "How's the mission going?"


I was already moving to what appeared to be the largest building in this fortress. "Nothing we didn't know already," I answered. "Still looking."


"Okay, should I tell the others to go ahead with their missions?" she asked.


"Probably better to wait," I replied. No sense in letting them know we were coming early. I entered the large building. It was a warehouse of some sort, containing large bags full of what I was pretty sure was drugs. I watched as people walked to and fro. A man dressed up in an outfit of solid black, with three long ropes coming off his shoulders stood there. They're already imitating Barghest? I thought. It's only been a week and a half.


"Unknown parahuman, male, late twenties to early thirties," I informed over the coms, adding Tattletale and Emma to the conversation. I let my power go. Offensive strategy: attack from behind, punch him in the back of the head, he dies. "No special defense against surprise attacks, not a high end regenerator." Defensive strategy: avoid ropes, stay out of range of ropes, stay out of line of sight. "Blaster or shaker of some kind. His costume is built to be a weapon or improve his power somehow, I think. He needs line of sight on his powers. Maybe mover, my power doesn't want me staying still for long near him."


"Never heard of him," Emma replied. "Too generic a power description, and the picture makes me believe he changed costumes."


"See if there's any Simurgh imitators that might fit," Tattletale suggested.


"Only a couple dozen," Emma retorted.


The man in black touched a crate and then vanished, taking the crate with him. "Fuck!" I exclaimed. "Teleporter. Powerful one."


"Seire," Emma replied almost immediately. "Touch range telekinetic, not too different than your old power. Teleportation of up to five hundred miles, confirmed. Likely more. Can use it rapidly enough to be effective in combat. Manton limited, but uses his power to strengthen his costume. Likes to mutilate his victims without killing them. Shouldn't be able to get through our battle armor, though."


"My power thinks he can get through mine," I informed.


"Sending Horus as backup. He should be a hard counter," Tattletale added.


I smiled. Yeah, that would work. My power's strategy for getting through Theo's armor was 'no'.


"Found them," Skitter said over the com. Her voice fluctuated in a way that let me know she was incredibly upset. I turned and bolted back that direction. Seire might come back, but I needed a look at the bosses.


I arrived at a tunnel in the Yggdrasil, and a swarm of insects pointing at the hole. I followed it down, and the scenery changed. In the dark, it was easier to see the other world. I arrived in what was, for all intents and purposes, a throne room out of a depiction of hell. Complete with bone furniture. That, at least, was fake. Although many decorations on the wall were not. I continued following the tunnel into a side area. A large bedroom. Baal and Lilith were there. She does not have the body to be wearing something like that, I decided immediately. A Simurgh-themed 'chainmail bikini' costume didn't belong on a 5'6, 250 pound, 40 year old woman.


Baal, on the other hand, looked like something out of a barbarian movie. Muscular to the point of near absurdity, and covered in a dark red armor with bits of brownish bone plating. His armor is the real thing. And, if my power was any indicator, it's still alive. Reading his physiology convinced me that guessing his age would be impossible.


There were two other men, guards, one leading a girl out of the room, and another bringing a new girl in. Lilith gazed at her. "This one in ready, m'lord," she said with an attempt at a sultry voice that she couldn't pull off well, either. My stomach dropped.


"Ready for what," I asked Skitter hesitantly. The hormone and physiology information already told me the answer.


"Breeding," she answered angrily. "It's a breeding program. Like Heartbreaker."


"She's barely fourteen years old!" I exclaimed.


"I know..."


"I'm going in," I said.


"Wait!" she shouted. "This is a scouting mission."


"I'm not going to watch a child get raped," I growled.


"Can you disable them?" she asked.


"Her? Yes," I answered. "Him, I'll have to kill."


Lilith's head turned toward us even as Skitter gave the command. "Do it."


I shunted before she had a chance to speak. She dodged a burst of laser light with a shocking swiftness considering her age and physique, but she wasn't the one I was concerned about. At the same moment, my leg came up as hard as my strength would allow, right between Baal's legs. There was a wet crunch, as my armored foot sank into his flesh. I almost laughed at him, after my power was kind enough to tell me that, while such an injury would be temporary for him, he still had the ability to feel pain.


I dropped to the ground and rolled backward as Lilith fired a shot from some kind of tinker weapon. I didn't know the details, but my power made it clear I didn't want to take a hit from it. A splash of gore dropped from the hole my foot had left in Baal.


Meanwhile, I was listening to shouting and assault rifle fire from across the compound. They had, if my guess was correct, about fifty guards. We had thirty zerglings and countless modified insects. I took a couple more pot shots at Lilith, who evaded them almost casually. She's a better precog than I am, I realized as I struggled to avoid a couple more shots from her gun. I was only doing this well because I had superhuman speed backing me up.


Baal, meanwhile, had regenerated. I swapped out to the ice lance, and shot him in the crotch again. Sadly, that attack didn't leave a lot of nerves behind. He screamed, however, as his power started to undo the tissue damage. My power kindly informed me that I still had almost six and a half tons worth of human biomass to destroy before I would actually be able to do lasting damage to him. More importantly, I had to keep him fighting that whole time. If he decided to retreat, he could escape me. Or my power believed he could.


I dodged a couple more of Lilith's shots, then swapped to sonic and fired a wide burst toward her. The guards had started firing on me as well, but my armor was entirely bulletproof. It was, however, a distraction and one of Lilith's shots caught me in the shoulder. Fuck, I didn't want to do this so soon. I activated my war form. The breaker state undid my injury and adjusted my physiology. It even infused into my armor, which the tinkers had somehow bullshitted my power into thinking was a part of me. I mended the damage, moved forward and punched Baal in the head, sending him flying back. I fired a laser shot into his genitals. They caught fire.


I might be having too much fun with that, I thought. Then I flipped back to avoid another stream of energy from Lilith's gun. I swapped to EMP setting and activated the burst. Lilith, the guards, and the poor girl that was still in the room all screamed in pain. Contrary to popular imagination, EMPs fucking hurt. Other people.


She gasped as I closed in for a hit, and then my power warned me, so I moved back. My power was afraid to touch her, even through the armor. I wasn't sure why, but I would rather not find out.


"Fuck," she spat as she struggled to her feet. "You're a precog, too?"


"Guilty as charged," I quipped, my eyes glancing over to Baal. I resisted the urge to smirk as he had put multiple extra layers of his bioarmor over his crotch. "Of course, you're better at it," I admitted. Hopefully you're stupid about it, too.


She pulled a sword out from her position behind the bed, then rushed me. She was unnervingly fast for her size, but I was fast for anyone. I avoided her easily, only to be forced to duck and roll when Baal nearly got me with a spined tendril made from his armor. Lilith followed up by swiping at my shoulder, the one she'd shot before. The blade got through the weakened armor and sank into my flesh. She let the weapon go. Fuck.


I gripped the blade and shunted it out. Then, ignoring the injury, I twisted sideways and kicked outward, breaking Baal's knee. Thanks to the additional armor he used to protect the family jewels, he was a lot slower than he should have been with his powers. Slow enough for me to keep up with, as was the plan all along. Lilith pulled another sword from another hiding place. How paranoid do you have to be to hide all these weapons in your bedroom? I wondered briefly. Then I swapped for my sonic blaster again.


Lilith stepped to the side and pointed the blade at the teenage girl's throat. "You know I can kill her before you can stop me," she warned. It was true, of course. I hesitated as Baal got to his feet. Fuck. The girl just sat there in wide eyed horror. And then Seire appeared in the bedroom. Well, fuck me then.


Missy shunted in, near the door. Along with Theo. Zach appeared right in front of Lilith, who slapped him. He disintegrated. From just a slap? She has to have a scary touch power. The child vanished into dust a half second later, as Theo bull-rushed Seire, using gravity manipulation to help. Baal's legs exploded from underneath him, and I took a couple more shots at Lilith.


She moved toward Missy, and space warped around. It wouldn't work. Lilith's power let her follow the warp perfectly, getting her in touch range, where she grabbed Missy's arm. Lilith's arm started sinking into Missy's costume. Not in the usual sense of it, but more like when Lily uses her power to phase an object through another. Then Lilith screamed and stumbled back. Her arm was missing up to the shoulder.


I shunted out, moved a few feet, and shunted back in behind Seire. Cost me both of my jumps, but that was fine. I brought my claws into the man's back, using the cryo effect to weaken his armor and let me cut through. He vanished. I turned and clotheslined him as he reappeared. I definitely preferred fighting non-precogs. I also liked knowing we had healers, because I was pretty sure I just put the asshole into a coma he wouldn't come out of without parahuman help.


I turned back toward Baal. "So, want to surrender?"


"Fck ff," he muttered from through his altered jaw.


"Oh, thank you so much for saying that," I smiled, and moved. I shunted Lilith's sword back into this reality, dipped low, and shoved the thing up into his crotch yet again. Although, with the angle I used, it really did more damage to the intestines than anywhere else. Then I hit the weapon with the full extent of my electrical generation. He screamed as best he could while the metal heated to the point where it melted inside of him. Not a very high quality blade, I decided.


But, he recovered quickly nonetheless, even as everyone else retreated from the room. Missy took the teenager, while Theo carried the badly bleeding Lilith and Zach dragged Seire. Wonder who gave that command? Oh well, I was fine here with Baal.

I stepped back and grabbed the other sword. Nope, these are all replicas, I realized. I fired another sonic blast, this time at full concentration. The back wall cracked as he slammed into it. I shunted out and returned standing on the ceiling above him. I jumped off of it and used all that force to send the second sword down his throat, followed by yet another electrical surge. He dropped. My power told me that he was almost out of power.


I swapped to the ice lance, and aimed right for his heart, waiting for him to recover just enough to be aware of what was coming. His insides were reduced to near absolute zero. His eyes just stared at me in shock, and I watched as his power used the remainder of the stolen biomass of other human beings to recover. He was beaten, completely. He could recover, but would take years for him to restore his strength enough to be much of a threat. I guess I can take him in alive, I realized.


Fuck that noise. I kicked him in the chest, and he shattered to pieces.


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

A/N- I updated the timeline.

Also- this chapter is as big as two of my usual chapters, and I got other shit to do today, so there probably won't be a second today. Enjoy.

 

[1282748472]

"Scouting mission". Haven shows up to the meet up afterwards:

Haven: How did the scouting mission go?

Pantheon: Two prisoners, one fatality. Vicky went all Sub-Zero so Baal is a pile of ice chips now.

Haven: We've been chasing those guys for years and you kill them on a fucking recon op!?

Pantheon: For you, the need to take down the Fallen has been one of the driving forces of your lives. For us it was Tuesday.

 

[Slayer Anderson]

So Baal's been trying to pull a Heartbreaker...awesome. Just fucking great.

I'm guessing we're going to see Rapture again soon, if only to deal with *more* traumatized children. I don't envy her at all.

But, this puts another, very large nail, in the Fallen's coffin and removes their main chapter from existence, I'm pretty sure.

With Nilbog about to be removed, the Fallen functionally gone, the Teeth and Butcher taken out, the Adepts (maybe the Elites, too?) likely moving towards 'rogue' rather than villains, and Pantheon beginning to institute Accord's plans...

Things may, possibly, be looking up soon. Although, I'm wondering how high Saint is climbing on the threat list now, given that Pantheon is working it's way through the upper-level threats on a monthly basis.

...I really think we need a chapter on the political ramifications of what's happening here, maybe couched as a PHO Interlude? I mean, Mexico has it's own problems and with Pantheon as it's own sovereign polity, Mexico could actually request aid from them without it looking too strange, but people would still flip their shit over something like that happening.

Excellent new chapter TanaNari, now Vicky just needs to pick a name for the press release about how she killed one of the last remaining A/S-class threats in North America...as Pantheon's designated rookie.

Pantheon OP, PLZ nerf!

 

[Caduceus]

I smiled. Yeah, that would work. My power's strategy for getting through Theo's armor was 'no'.

Click to shrink...

This was funny. Truly, Pantheon is bullshit-uber-tier.

Fuck that noise. I kicked him in the chest, and he shattered to pieces.

Click to shrink...

Annnnnnd justice is served. I'm starting to like her now.

 

[TanaNari]

I think most people wouldn't like the "troll ending" "beginning of a brand new arc of suffering" because we would have to re-read 190 chapters to truly appreciate it.

Click to shrink...

*Looks at older chapters and frowns about how they only average around 35 likes, while the new ones are hitting 100*

That might be a desirable feature.

Really ? She doesn't have any control over Victoria's armor then ? That's kind of a break from the usual design.

Click to shrink...

Taylor doesn't have complete control over ANY armor system. She has very finite control over the armor- namely, being able to activate or deactivate certain functions (weapons, especially). Could she stop Vicky from using the armor? Yes. Would that stop the combat precog with brute powers from killing her afterward? No.

For us it was Tuesday.

Click to shrink...

Saturday, actually.

I mean, Mexico has it's own problems and with Pantheon as it's own sovereign polity, Mexico could actually request aid from them without it looking too strange, but people would still flip their shit over something like that happening.

Click to shrink...

That's not really official, yet.

 

[1282748472]

Saturday, actually.

Click to shrink...

Fine, the Fallen were utterly vanquished over Saturday luncheon.

Edit: Also, I'm pretty sure a part of the readership would leave in rage if it suddenly turned out the whole story never actually happened.

 

[doomlord9]

Edit: Also, I'm pretty sure a part of the readership would leave in rage if it suddenly turned out the whole story never actually happened.

Click to shrink...

Unless the fact that it was all a dream was just a dream and something else has been happening. Unless that is a dream too, and on and on as they fight the new dream based Endbringer.

 

[rooster]

I'm still upset about Taylor you know.
She dies and because she has a twin everyone is suddenly 'meh, replacement goldfish'.

If this turns out to be a dream then I'd probably quit.

I quit reading song of ice and fire after Bran "died".
Sure it turned out to be a bait and switch but I was very upset.
Not because he was killed off, but because it was treated so poorly.
How was I supposed to know he was fine and it was some random body?

 

[Slayer Anderson]

*Looks at older chapters and frowns about how they only average around 35 likes, while the new ones are hitting 100*

That might be a desirable feature.

Click to shrink...

TanaNari, I want you to see something:

Placeholder 4: I dunno, I'll probably need it for something.

Click to shrink...

This post has 39 likes. 39 likes when "Placeholder 4: I dunno, I'll probably need it for something." is the entirety of the post.

You have an extremely loyal reader-base if almost forty people were willing to like a post based solely on the assumption that, "It's Amelia, I trust TanaNari will eventually use this post and there will be something awesome here."

Also, I'm pretty sure you have, by far, the highest number of likes on this entire site right now. So no whining!

 

[daimahou]

Also, I'm pretty sure you have, by far, the highest number of likes on this entire site right now. So no whining!

Click to shrink...

Hmmm...

What was it I said on SB? Something like 'As long as his story(ies) live the devil will collect our souls not his'. He needs the likes so that all of, not parts of, our souls go away and not his.

 

[Alterego9]

Also, I'm pretty sure you have, by far, the highest number of likes on this entire site right now. So no whining!

Click to shrink...

To be fair, it's a tiny website, and he is pretty much only in contest with Ack's incest and gang-rape fantasies.

 

[Slayer Anderson]

To be fair, it's a tiny website, and he is pretty much only in contest with Ack's incest and gang-rape fantasies.

Click to shrink...

I'll have you know that Ack's stories contain plenty of lesbian sex, substance, threesomes, plot, Dallon-cest, and...underage sex.

...I forgot where I was going with this argument, to be honest, but I'm sure I had a good point in there somewhere...

 

[1282748472]

To be fair, it's a tiny website, and he is pretty much only in contest with Ack's incest and gang-rape fantasies.

Click to shrink...

Wait a second, when did gang-rape happen in Ack's stuff? I stopped reading Hope around the point that lesbian asexual sex became a serious plot point. Not because I was against it in theory, I was just against it taking up what seemed like 60% of the wordcount. I never figured Ack for gang rape, dude's too sappy.

 

[The Shadowmind]

Wait a second, when did gang-rape happen in Ack's stuff? I stopped reading Hope around the point that lesbian asexual sex became a serious plot point. Not because I was against it in theory, I was just against it taking up what seemed like 60% of the wordcount. I never figured Ack for gang rape, dude's too sappy.

Click to shrink...

Taylor's Revenge a quest in the NSFW section on here.

 

[TanaNari]

Guys. Can we please not talk about Ack's stories in this thread? I'm trying to keep this story in the SFW section, y'know.

Edit: Also, I'm pretty sure a part of the readership would leave in rage if it suddenly turned out the whole story never actually happened.

Click to shrink...

That's true.

I'm still upset about Taylor you know.
She dies and because she has a twin everyone is suddenly 'meh, replacement goldfish'.

Click to shrink...

Not a lot of people even know, and most of them are so very fucked up in the head.

I quit reading song of ice and fire after Bran "died".

Click to shrink...

I quit reading all of Martin's works after I realized he bores me to tears. Ugh.

Also, I'm pretty sure you have, by far, the highest number of likes on this entire site right now. So no whining!

Click to shrink...

But... but... how will I survive without reader hate and subsequent trolling?

 

[Navrin]

This really isn't the thread to discuss Ack's writing in. I will note that I think the summations of Ack's writing are rather inaccurate and leave it at that in this thread. (You can start a private conversation with me if you actually want to discuss it)

Can we return to discussing Amelia, now?

Edit: And Imped.

 

[Slayer Anderson]

But... but... how will I survive without reader hate and subsequent trolling?

Click to shrink...

There...There?

<pats back awkwardly>

I'm...sure...plenty of your readers will always hate you?

 

[The Shadowmind]

I'm currently out of ideas for crimes against nature that could be done with current powersets that aren't just rehashes of the same ideas.
-Parahuman cloned symbiotic organism.
-Endbringer clone bodies.
-Butcher clone loops.(Won't work well with TanraNari's take on the Butcher voice-in-head power)

 

[Balatro Philologus]

-Endbringer clone bodies.

Click to shrink...

Considering that in canon Bonesaw thought this was a bad idea, while still a member of the S9, this idea goes into the no pile so hard it creates a new category of NOPE

 

[Slayer Anderson]

Considering that in canon Bonesaw thought this was a bad idea while still a member of the S9. this idea goes into the no pile so hard it creates a new category of NOPE

Click to shrink...

<Entirety of Pantheon assembled before Yum Kaax>

Amelia: "Rey, you are no longer allowed to tinker while high or we will turn you over to the Birdcage, if the Protectorate doesn't assign you a kill order first."

Rey: "...try to clone an Endbringer *one time* and suddenly no one wants to be your friend anymore."

 

[Lurixas]

Pantheon Facts!

Recon in Force for normal armed forces means going in to provoke a reaction and fading away to safety.
For Pantheon, it means provoking a reaction, engaging, curbstomping, and walking out through the front door with the enemy commander subdued and the army in tatters.

 

[alanek]

Pantheon only ever actually deploys against endbringers - all other foes are wiped out by their light scouting parties before the main force arrives.

 

[dasstan]

But... but... how will I survive without reader hate and subsequent trolling?

Click to shrink...

I can start copy pasting t7W's original posts from the thread over on SB if you're really jonesing for it?

 

[HorizonRunner]

Frankly, I'd be surprised if regular ol' gangs even bother to fight when Pantheon rolls around.

These are the folks who iced the Simurgh without a single casualty on their roster.

The Fallen get a pass for being insane jackasses, but everybody else should probably be running by now.

 

[dasstan]

Frankly, I'd be surprised if regular ol' gangs even bother to fight when Pantheon rolls around.

These are the folks who iced the Simurgh without a single casualty on their roster.

The Fallen get a pass for being insane jackasses, but everybody else should probably be running by now.

Click to shrink...

Crime in Brockton Bay is effectively gone. Their showing in Chicago sent the message that they are willing to accept a certain level of crime, but it's basically limited to minor things.

Being excessively troublesome risk Pantheon's attention, and no one wants that. Well, no one except the crazies.

 

[Divabot]

I can start copy pasting t7W's original posts from the thread over on SB if you're really jonesing for it?

Click to shrink...

[X] Dislike

 

[Prince Charon]

So Baal's been trying to pull a Heartbreaker...awesome. Just fucking great.

I'm guessing we're going to see Rapture again soon, if only to deal with *more* traumatized children. I don't envy her at all.

Click to shrink...

Also Vicky, which at least should be less traumatic for the tinker.

Rapture is going to need many hugs after this.

 

[1282748472]

Fair, fair. I'll keep it more relevant. Back to the rampant munchkinry!

So, we've now proven that a completely new person can be grown and given a transplanted brain with the powers re-attaching properly... what exactly is stopping them from mass producing backups for Endbringer fights? They can get Dragon and that Manasune guy to mass produce the tech. Imagine it: every Protectorate member and Ward who shows up to fight Endbringers has a backup made just beforehand, as well as leaving behind a sample of genetic material and a full body scan. Sure no-one died this fight because of Eidolon, but we can't exactly count on an <8 minute battle against Behemoth or Leviathan. Technically the cape in question does actually die in battle, but that's not what matters. What matters is that every Endbringer fight there would be more, not less, experienced capes on hand. The bravest and most heroic of all capes would live longer, skewing the ratio of all capes more towards the hero side of things, because right now the Endbringers are exerting a disproportionate selection pressure that kills off capes willing to do good more than it kills off the selfish or the cowardly.

That means more, more capes on the front lines, more teleporters and more chance of finding another awesome bullshit power combo like the Moirai cannon or Gaia and Khepri. Cut down the strong Endbringers, leave the weak ones and fight them off with a disposable army of biotinkered horrors and ressurrectable capes. The force grows over years from say 200 capes to maybe a thousand or more. Right now there are say 3-4 endbringer attacks a year. That means endbringers are killing at least 150 capes a year, probably closer to 250-300 if the canon Behemoth fight is typical. In 2 years when scion hits that 500-600 extra willing recruits and countless millions of civilians saved. Probably a lot more than that, if they lie and say their tech is resurrection tech instead of copying tech. How many more capes would show up for Endbringers if the chance of death was almost zero? I think a lot. Way more than that if they say they'll rez certain Endbringer signed-up capes during peacetime as well. Maybe set a limit of one death a year to stop save-scummers.

Over time Endbringer attacks go from being a species-destroying threat to a strong-ish natural disaster. At the very least the Triumvirate, Doormaker, Chevalier and the other most important people should have a copy ready. It's not true immortality, but quite frankly the sensibilities of a few thousand capes are rather less important than the millions/billions of lives such a strategy could save. Best thing is, Simurg's dead. This is exactly the kind of thing she would put a stop to (via bullshit)