Amelia, Worm AU [Complete]

[CptTagon]

Can I preemptively blame Slayer Anderson? Because I'm really interested in seeing more of Riley and her ideas. Also, it's hard for me to see what Sophia's thoughts on Pantheon could be beyond rage that two people she disliked (Taylor and Missy) are now of international importance. And that just isn't nearly as amusing as watching Riley.

 

[Veronica Mars]

Hilariously enough, I just talked about this (kinda) in the thread of a completely different Worm fanfic I'm following.


You can identify someone's race by certain genetic markers with modern, real-life shit. No, it won't tell you their phenotype, but it's a wink and a nudge in the general direction.

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....

Apparently, people can totally miss very obvious hints. Ah well.



I just feel obligated to point out that race is Bullshit at every opportunity.

Seriously. Race was made up as a tool to justify oppression. If you want to talk about "clearly identifiable as japanese" that's fine.

Race, however, should go the way of the dodo, and I do my best to hurry it along.

 

[dasstan]

gossip rag their chance to .

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Random space after "to".

accepting and moving forward

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I enjoyed the echo of the "accept and push through" arc words.

Missy looked at me sheepishly. "Don't worry," I replied. "Wasn't anywhere too fancy. It was, after all, planned for the three of us."

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...heh.

As far as the Sophia thing goes, I am curious what her thoughts are on everything that's been going on, but I'm also interested in Riley's idea. So, really, as long as I get both, I'm happy.

 

[Snake/Eater]

It don't think being accused of being a gaybasher,a bully and a hypocritical superhero has made Sophia popular in juvie...on the brightside she helped trigger the greatest hero since Dragon.

 

[Daunmi]

A/N- *Now is torn between the next chapter will reveal the sudden brilliant idea... or it'll be a Sophia interlude like Slayer Anderson asked. So, y'know, blame him if you want to know what Riley just dreamt up.

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It's Riley.

If she can't find out a way to make a sudden brilliant idea involve Sophia in some sufficiently horrifying way, she's not trying.

That said... I'm guessing something to do with Chevalier or Zack involving what Missy does. Or perhaps both of them.

 

[Coruscant Knave]

Ch. 259: Theo, Missy, and Riley discuss writing fanfiction.

I like the twist of Max disliking art. Also, I feel extra dumb for not seeing the Missy/Riley Fenja/Menja thing. Thanks for that.

Bring on the Sophia interlude!

 

[Daunmi]

Just thinking back on the whole Rune situation... Is anyone else disappointed that Kaiser didn't survive and end up in much the same position as Rune? Because with Theo's recent thoughts regarding two young ladies making the great Kaiser their chew toy, I feel it's a bit of a missed opportunity.

Of course, he was never so stupid as to come anywhere near something like their current group, so I guess I'm out of luck either way.

 

[dasstan]

Just thinking back on the whole Rune situation... Is anyone else disappointed that Kaiser didn't survive and end up in much the same position as Rune? Because with Theo's recent thoughts regarding two young ladies making the great Kaiser their chew toy, I feel it's a bit of a missed opportunity.

Of course, he was never so stupid as to come anywhere near something like their current group, so I guess I'm out of luck either way.

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I think his brain would have exploded when 2/3rds of the Endslayers turned out to be gay women of color.

 

[Zarohk]

Preemptive Author's Note: minor to moderate spoilers for The Glass Menagerie. If you haven't seen... go do that... do it right now. It's a better use of your time than this story.

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I like the twist of Max disliking art. Also, I feel extra dumb for not seeing the Missy/Riley Fenja/Menja thing. Thanks for that.

Bring on the Sophia interlude!

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Seconded on all of this. Also, it's really great when you have characters see / read / otherwise absorb a narrative (book / movie / play / whatever) that mirror their situation, and I'm glad you chose the Glass Menagerie for this. Because it embodies those three different characters in different ways, so very well, with different parts of them fitting different ones differently. Also, canon Amy and Taylor fit into the main roles quite well with their respective parents. That was a really good choice of play.

"I know this whole thing is a little weird, but it's what makes sense for us. Maybe it's a 'powers' thing, that I'm used to seeing things in a different way than most people. When you can take ten places and make them exist in one thing at one time, well, you get used to the idea that rules are just basic guidelines to ignore whenever convenient."

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Wow, amazing speech from Missy here. We never got enough of her in canon and I loved how you fleshed her out. The heart of Missy's personality and powers is that she takes existing things and warps them to her own "optimal" ends, while at the same time she is also able to see others' perspectives very well. Here, have a Calvin and Hobbes comic illustrating Missy' awesomeness (in reverse):

 

[Beyogi]

What is Glass Menagerie?

 

[Hiver]

...Riley is going to rig up a Talia link, isnt she?

 

[SwiftRosenthal]

I like the twist of Max disliking art.

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It's not much of a twist if it's historically accurate. Fascists have always disliked 'high society' and fanciful or abstract art. It's just a different strain of their generalized anti-intellectual tendency.

 

[GiftofLove]

I'm amused that Missy never even considered asking Riley to help with her developmental problems.

 

[Daunmi]

I'm amused that Missy never even considered asking Riley to help with her developmental problems.

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Well, Amelia can do it far less invasively.

Although, with Riley you'd have a hell of a lot more 'optional extras' included!

 

[Cyclone]

On tablet, so can't quote properly, but...

"A Streetcar Named Desire or was a more intense story,"

Should that "or" be there?

 

[jaelin910]

I figured it was something to do with Chevalier and probably something to do with Zach. can chevalier use his power to fix this issue?

"Her power doesn't work that way. She alters the way matter functions, but not energy. If she could work with energy, we could give her a flashlight and watch her melt Endbringers like they were made of smoke. Only something with significant mass can be carry the wavelength her power relies on. Although that might be a Passenger thing."

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or maybe... the endbringer tissue is sort of alive-ish, right? so since he can use that in his weapons, it wouldn't be that out there if he were unrestricted by the manton limit and therefore able to add something to Zach that'd let him heal. just... maybe not a bit of endbringer to start with, alright? endbringer Zach

 

[Shader]

What is Glass Menagerie?

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For a play, it is probably this play of the same name on Broadway (or equivalent there of).

If you are talking about the award wining -film- then you probably are talking about this here.

 

[TanaNari]

It don't think being accused of being a gaybasher,a bully and a hypocritical superhero has made Sophia popular in juvie...on the brightside she helped trigger the greatest hero since Dragon.

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Dunno where you're from, but in America, the first two aren't going to be a problem. If you aren't both of those by the time you get out of prison, well, you're a rarity.

But, yeah, bad things tend to happen to former cops in prison. I have to imagine it's similar for superheroes.

If she can't find out a way to make a sudden brilliant idea involve Sophia in some sufficiently horrifying way, she's not trying.

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Riley: "We've rigged up your brain to this lie detector. Every time you lie, even to yourself, it makes you pee your pants."

Sophia: "That's not even pos- oh, fuck you."

Missy: "It's not nearly as bad as what she was going to do."

S: "Fuck you, Byron, I know where you live, I will kill ever- really?"

M: "Yup, even when you're talking trash."

S: "Well I'm running on empty, now, so I can still kick your- OH GOD IT BURNS!" (Sophia falls over on the floor)

M: "Yeah, about that. When you run out, it uses dimensional tech to find replacement fluids."

S: *gasp* "What... kind?"

R: "Felis Catus"

S: "Catus? Cat? You're using cat piss!?"

M: "Her original plan involved just summoning it into your mouth, so, consider this a step up."

S: "Why would you do this?"

R: "Well, I felt bad about not getting Big Sis and Taylor an engagement present. So that's you, now."

Is anyone else disappointed that Kaiser didn't survive and end up in much the same position as Rune? Because with Theo's recent thoughts regarding two young ladies making the great Kaiser their chew toy, I feel it's a bit of a missed opportunity.

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I know I do. But, sadly, he died from Leviathan, not Theo's Girlfriends. Not that it's necessarily an insurmountable problem for Riley, but still...

What is Glass Menagerie?

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A play. Written by Tennessee Williams. One of the best American plays ever written.

 

[Alterego9]

Race is a social construct and has no actual basis in genetics.

From what i've been told, your random japanese dude is about as likely to have more genetic similarity with a random norwegian as with a random fellow japanese dude.

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That's not entirely true. First of all, the example you have most likely heard, is about africans and everyone else, and that's because everyone outside of Africa are the offsprings of one particular genetic mutation, while Africa is far more genetically diverse than you would expect based on skin color alone.

Meanwhile, Japanese people have a pretty isolated gene pool, so they are likely to share a lot more genes even beyond the ones that gives their visible racial traits.

It's possible for a Japanese and a Norwegian to share more genes than two Japanese, but phenotypes do exist, and they tend to correate to regional heritage.

Race is a social construct in the same way as the seven colors of the rainbow are social constructs. It's not that they don't exist, it's just that we arbirarily divided them up into seven labelled colors instead of 4 or 10 or whatever.

The line that you have quoted was intended to support exactly the biological fact that you are half-remembering, that even two white girls with anglo-saxon names can be so genetically different, that kind of difference would be far more expectable between, say, a black girl and a white girl.

 

[Daunmi]

Not that it's necessarily an insurmountable problem for Riley, but still...

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Yeah, I was going to suggest something like that myself, but I figured I wouldn't need to to have someone else respond about it. Thanks!

R: "Well, I felt bad about not getting Big Sis and Taylor an engagement present. So that's you, now."

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She's so thoughtful.

Except now the wedding smells like cat piss and Shadow Stalker, and everyone's trying to work out what's worse.

 

[Asunder]

I find it amusing that Theo thinks that he's the kaiser in the relationship. He may have the dimensional impervious armor but we know who wears the spacial warping pants.

 

[GiftofLove]

I'm looking forward to Purity finding out.

I don't know why, but I feel like it'll be a fun conversation.

 

[dasstan]

I'm looking forward to Purity finding out.

I don't know why, but I feel like it'll be a fun conversation.

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Kayden: ... Your father would be proud of you, Theo.
Theo: His posthumous approval fills me with shame.
Kayden: Good!

 

[GiftofLove]

I just realized that Theo is like Kaiser, but doing it better.

Metal powers? Impervious multidimensional metal. Multiple girlfriends? Two of the strongest parahumans in the world. Part of the biggest parahuman organization in town? Try multiple dimensions.

 

[Inverness]

Someone really should launch Missy into orbit then see if she can pull the Moon closer to Earth.

Actually, that may not be as good an idea as I thought it was.

Well, it would make for a more romantic dinner date at least.

 

[Fouredged]

Leave it to Missy to fit a third into a relationship. She can just about fit anything into anything.

 

[Ack]

Leave it to Missy to fit a third into a relationship. She can just about fit anything into anything.

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And that didn't sound dirty AT ALL.

 

[Ack]

That's not entirely true. First of all, the example you have most likely heard, is about africans and everyone else, and that's because everyone outside of Africa are the offsprings of one particular genetic mutation, while Africa is far more genetically diverse than you would expect based on skin color alone.

Meanwhile, Japanese people have a pretty isolated gene pool, so they are likely to share a lot more genes even beyond the ones that gives their visible racial traits.

It's possible for a Japanese and a Norwegian to share more genes than two Japanese, but phenotypes do exist, and they tend to correate to regional heritage.

Race is a social construct in the same way as the seven colors of the rainbow are social constructs. It's not that they don't exist, it's just that we arbirarily divided them up into seven labelled colors instead of 4 or 10 or whatever.

The line that you have quoted was intended to support exactly the biological fact that you are half-remembering, that even two white girls with anglo-saxon names can be so genetically different, that kind of difference would be far more expectable between, say, a black girl and a white girl.

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It's even more interesting than that.

What people don't realise a lot of the time, until they stop and think about it, is that racial phenotypes merge. You look at a picture of a Japanese man, who is distinct from a Russian man, who is distinct from an Indonesian man, right? But these are points on a sliding scale.

Start in Japan. Go to a small village and find someone whose family's been there for ten generations or more. Take a photo. Travel the length of Asia then Europe, stopping at the small communities, the ones that have been there through fire and war and pestilence, where the families can trace their lineages back centuries. Take a picture of the same type of person - old man, young woman, whatever - in each village. Avoid places that have been settled from elsewhere; that will skew your data.

By the time you reach Ireland, you will be able to create a (very long) slideshow that will show gradually changing features from one end of the landmass to the other. It's like looking at blue shading to green; it will be hard to point at any one face and say "That's where this ethnic type begins."

And that's what racial bigots either don't understand or don't want to know.

 

[Daunmi]

And that's what racial bigots either don't understand or don't want to know.

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Well, they do say common sense isn't. Guess the same goes for common decency, or in their case, both.

 

[TanaNari]

Amelia, Ch 260- Victoria


"Dammit, bitch, what is it going to take to make you leave me alone!" Inexorable screamed at me. "It's been four fucking days, already!"


"Well, stop robbing banks, for starters?" I suggested. "And maybe turn yourself in?"


It turns out my power was, in fact, unable to stop the man whose power was to literally be unstoppable. He could not be injured, he could walk through any barrier, and he could extend that invulnerability to anything he touched. In this case, a garbage bag full of cash and valuables stolen from a bank vault. Luckily, outside the whole unstoppable thing, he was baseline human. No stronger, or faster, or smarter, than anyone else, unless you were directly preventing him from moving.


"Sorry, sugar tits, ain't happenin'," he countered. "You'll have to leave eventually. Next Endbringer fight, maybe? For the couple mil in this bag, I think I can wait you out for a few more weeks."


"Why even rob banks, anyway?" I asked. "Two mil is jack shit for a parahuman with your power. You could make that much a month just being a movie stunt double. Or to show up at Endbringer fights and give them hugs. I'd pay you a couple mil to watch that show."


"I don't get along well with others," he snarked. I could tell how tired and irritable he was without powers. Sleep was not something I was letting him have a lot of. I needed him to stop thinking clearly and start making exploitable mistakes. One of the better ones was him diving into the ocean for a night. We came up several miles off course, in this small forested area. No people meant no potential hostages or disruptions to people. It was just me, and him, and my radio.


"Or someone paid you a lot of money to rob a bank, because they wanted to see the bank's reputation damaged," I stated. "And your power has some kind of quirk to it that leads you to believe it won't work on Endbringers. How's that?"


"Fuck you," he cursed.


"Thought so," I smirked. "So, your boss? Ah, you don't know who it was. Anonymous payment, throwaway cell. Give me a few, bet I can figure out your account numbers. They were involved in a crime, so they can be frozen and confiscated. Is what's in that bag worth what's in your bank?"


"No way," he growled. "You don't have a power like that."


"Sure I do," I leaned casually against a tree. "I'm a telepath."


"Bullshit, there's no such thing," he growled.


"Sure there is," I quipped. "Lots of us. We just don't like talking about it. The whole 'Simurgh' thing, y'know. There's three others on my team. Including Khepri."


"She controls bugs," he argued.


"Yeah. Using telepathy," I retorted. "Works on humans, too. But she can't actually control people. Just bugs. Because bugs are too fucking stupid to tell the difference between her thoughts and theirs."


"You're lying," he insisted.


I shrugged. "Probably, but is that a gamble you're willing to risk thirty mil... no, make that around forty mil... on?"


"Fine, I'll just think about something else," he argued. "You, for example, and all the things I'd do to you." He unzipped his pants. I pulled out my cell phone and pointed the camera at his crotch.


"Go for it," I dared. "I promise you this video will be uploaded faster than you can moan your boyfriend's name."


"That's illegal," he argued.


"Not in the slightest," I replied. "If I were filming you secretly, you'd have a case. But this isn't your property, you're aware of my presence, and I am recording the pursuit of a fugitive. A very, very, slow pursuit. Expose yourself and the only thing that happens is you adding some kind of sex crime to your record. Also, you'll be laughed at by the entirety of my online fanbase, so you probably should think twice. Because, seriously, if I was a guy and mine was that small, that'd be my Trigger event." Not true, if anything he might be a little above average. But he struck me as the kind of guy who'd be upset by a girl insulting his manhood.


"I will fucking murder you!" he screamed and threw a rock at my head. Yup, totally called that one. I didn't even bother to move, as it bounced off my cheek. He was baseline human, after all.


"Meh, even if you did, I'd be back up and moving in less than a day," I faked a yawn. He couldn't help but yawn as well. I flicked a ball of mostly pine needles and mud into his mouth. He gagged and started spitting out the mix and trying to get the taste out of his mouth. "So, would you like to listen to more music? One of my fans has this one from Aleph that is, according to her, 'the worst song ever made, ever'. I'm not sure I believe her. Or, at least, I'm hoping it's a her. The screen name is the number two, followed by 'cute', then the number four, then the letter u."


"All aleph music is shit," the man muttered.


"A friend of mine says it's because they're bored," I replied. "They got nothing better to do, so they make movies and music faster than we do because people buy it up faster. So Bet has to worry about quality to make money, while Aleph is just pumping out as much quantity as possible. Plus, apparently they have something called 'autotune' over there, it's why their music all sounds like it was sung by the same person."


"Dumb bitch, you'll have to suffer through it, too."


"Oh, I could have sworn I already told you," I replied. I had, of course, a couple days ago. But lack of sleep really fucks with memory. "Partial shapeshifter. I turn off my hearing. Speaking of, should we get started? I'm told that listening to 'Friday' for more than fifteen minutes has the possible side effects of permanently losing thirty IQ points, spontaneously contracting AIDS, and holding one's own head underwater until the bubbles stop,. Lemme know how you're doing after six hours."


My phone beeped. Emma? "Oops, gimme a minute," I requested, then answered. "Hey, Red, what's up?"


"There's an experiment to try, we think you should be there," she informed. Riley's. One of our unspoken codes was if no names were mentioned over the phone, and it wasn't immediately obvious who we were talking about, it usually meant Riley.


"That important, huh?" I asked. I could tell by the excitement in her voice that it was definitely important to her, at least.


"Yes," she answered. "Can't talk about it too much. All hush-hush, you know how it goes."


"I'm kinda in the middle of something," I replied.


"Gotcha covered," she answered. "Minerva's already making the calls. See you soon."


"Awesome," I replied and hung up.


"Well, good news for you," I replied. "I'm leaving soon. You were right, you can outwait me."


"About fucking time," he muttered.


"Bad news is, you made my bosses impatient, so they're calling in the big guns, right about now," I paused theatrically for about thirty seconds. "Dammit, I really need to work on my ti-"


Atropos popped in, along with Janus and a cape I didn't recognize. He was in clearly tinker tech battle armor, with a chrome color scheme. Pretty generic aesthetics, all considered. No obvious weapons, either, but my power was telling me there was a lot of utility concealed in that equipment. "Long time, no see," I replied smoothly. "So who's the new guy?"


"Wavelength," the apparent tinker answered. A compartment opened up on his chest, showing a badge. "I'm with the FBI. This is a federal reserve, so he's our jurisdiction until further notice. Nothing you particularly need to worry about. I was told the suspect would be captured when I got here."


"He will be in a minute, don't worry," I answered before looking back toward my friends. "Hey, where are the girlfriends?"


"At the base, already," Eric replied. "Or hers is, at least. Mine's probably in bed. It's past midnight, so we're a little tired."


"You think that's bad," I smiled. "This poor bastard's been up listening to Aleph music for the last three days." Plus another day spent underwater.


"Aren't there laws against that?" he asked.


"There really should be, but no," I remarked. "So where were we? Ah, right. He's like a dimestore Sibrian. Has the invulnerability and a sort of power resistance, plus he can walk through walls and containment foam like they're made of wet cardboard. None of the ripping people to shreds or disintegration, though. Oh, and he can choose what does or doesn't effect him, so he can be treated by modern medicine."


"Oh, good," Lily responded. "Authorized level of force?"


"Nothing lethal," I answered. "His worst crime is breaking a shop owner's ribs for not paying protection. So, don't hold back on the nonlethals. But first, at least give him a chance to surrender."


"Go fuck yourself," he spat. Getting repetitive, there. Then again, four days without sleep, I guess I could forgive him for a lack of witty comebacks. He dropped, screaming, as a pair of bolts pierced his lower legs. She deliberately missed his shin bones, so it was all muscle damage, but it was painful muscle damage. I walked over and picked up his garbage bag, with all its valuables, before he remembered to start shielding it again.


"Well, I think that's everything," I replied, handing the bag over to the FBI cape. "Do you need anything else?


"Not at the moment," he answered. "Your pursuit has been documented. We may need you for testimony at a later date, I trust you'll make yourself available."


"Yeah," I agreed. "Didn't spend four days on this, just to lose the crook. See you later, Inexorable." He didn't answer, being far too busy crying and holding his legs. He wouldn't die, his power had staunched the bleeding already. But he wouldn't be going anywhere under his own power any time soon.


The world changed, and we were standing at the portal to Avalon.


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

A/N- This chapter sorta accidentally wrote itself. In lieu of a Sophia chapter because I have exactly no inspiration for that at all.

Also: I kinda feel bad for that guy. Sure, he got shot in both legs and then lost two mil in order to avoid listening to Friday for six hours, so that's a plus. But two of those three days was a Bieber marathon. The third is best left to your imagination.

And it was all recorded and will find its way online.