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Yesterday, this was an ordinary twenty-first century city. Today it's a war zone, tomorrow it'll be walled off and abandoned.
A few collapsed buildings, shattered streets, and assorted craters. The place is mostly empty, with scattered groups of mostly humanoid monsters roaming and trying to escape the guarded fence around the city. The most instantly noticeable change is an ongoing wordless singing in the back of the mind of anyone present. By itself it's just a sound. An unpleasant sound, and almost but not quite predictable as if someone were trying to attack the listener's sanity without saying anything, but possible to ignore. But along with it, any time a listener closes their eyes they get flashes of memories. Not their worst memories, but whatever negative ones can stick with them unforgettably. It builds up associations between the feelings in those images and almost anything else. Sometimes there's a recognizable common thread and other times there isn't.
An angel fights off teams of opponents. She's fifteen feet tall, extremely winged, with more wings than is strictly necessary for an angel. Even some of her wings have wings. All of them are asymmetric and varyingly sized. A spherical halo of weaponry surrounds her, firing at her more distant enemies from across the battlefield. Her opponents cycle in and out: a golden man, a man surrounded by a bubble, a woman in a dark costume, all flying. Others make certain to stay away after taking their turn, on rare occasions spending too long hearing the angel's music. Those ones voluntarily self-destruct.
A small group of ordinary humans takes refuge in a house as far from the battle as they can reach. The song is quieter here, and, they hope, less potent. Some of them run away from and back to the house, occasionally calling for help. They haven't found any.
whole_new_can
ertia
The dog monster can be stuck very firmly in midair. The blood can stop existing. The snow can get turned into a scale model ice sculpture of Brockton Bay. The force fields aren't troubling her, but everybody can go to sleep now.
ertia
Good. If that doesn't clear away the force fields, she'll do it herself. And then she notifies the PRT. Again.
wormcan
Director Piggot is much less bothered by repetition than Kithabel is. Especially under the circumstances.
"The Teeth attacked you? I was expecting them to try a rescue. How many?"
"The Teeth attacked you? I was expecting them to try a rescue. How many?"
ertia
"Total of eighteen people, fiveish capes or maybe fewer if one of them was doing two different things."
wormcan
"There are others, then. They're unlikely to attack you after this, and if they do none of them is particularly resistant to being put to sleep, but it might be a good idea to stay intangible as long as you're here."
ertia
And Kithabel goes back to what she was doing. Insubstantially. It's not the most comfortable, but it's all right.
whole_new_can
Insubstantial or undetectable or otherwise safe, is all it would take. And without the Butcher the Teeth are already much less of a threat than they could be.
It's after a day of stuff-doing that Kithabel, while sufficiently noticeable, gets approached by four other capes. One in purple, one in armor, one covered in insects, and one translucent. "Interested in a trade?" the first one asks.
It's after a day of stuff-doing that Kithabel, while sufficiently noticeable, gets approached by four other capes. One in purple, one in armor, one covered in insects, and one translucent. "Interested in a trade?" the first one asks.
whole_new_can
"I'm offering information. A little detail that you'd definitely want to know. You know how you're from another world and anyone who matters has already figured it out? More important than that."
At that comment, the figure in the welder's mask spins her head toward the speaker, who smirks.
At that comment, the figure in the welder's mask spins her head toward the speaker, who smirks.
whole_new_can
"It's because I matter." That's directed at least as much to the armored cape as it is to Kithabel.
"What I want is a copy of an interdimensional portal. You saw one when you got here, and decided not to repair it. Well, it's been over a year and a half now, and none of us was there so you know our decision making isn't compromised."
"What I want is a copy of an interdimensional portal. You saw one when you got here, and decided not to repair it. Well, it's been over a year and a half now, and none of us was there so you know our decision making isn't compromised."
whole_new_can
"Ouch. Well, I'm not about to say what it's for.
If that's too close to the Simurgh, the device she was copying works too if you can manage it."
If that's too close to the Simurgh, the device she was copying works too if you can manage it."
ertia
"I'm really not sure I want to make you things for an unspecified purpose, and I begin to suspect you can tell how much of a waste of time I think extensively negotiating for it might be."
whole_new_can
"Fine. The device Haywire used to open a hole to Earth Aleph, then, no Simurgh involvement at all and that one's been in use for years so we can swap books. Should still work.
In exchange, you've been working for not one but two sets of supervillains pretty much since you got here, and I imagine you want to know which."
In exchange, you've been working for not one but two sets of supervillains pretty much since you got here, and I imagine you want to know which."
ertia
Sigh. "Two? I suppose I wasn't filtering heavily enough to keep the PAs villain-free but you'd think if two groups were trying they'd trip over each other." She looks up the Haywire device; she finds the purple cape's description legit - "And I still want to know what this is supposed to be for. Not, I assume, swapping books."
whole_new_can
"You've been taking directions from Accord's people; it was pretty obvious he had you accidentally running into his enemies as much as he could get away with. That mouthful of Teeth yesterday wasn't him, though, thanks for that.
Other one's the Elite; Accord was hiring you out. Some of the cells of Elite are pretty businesslike as villains go, though if you've been following the news lately even the good ones are bad ones. Pretty much any time you've gone to New York at least one job was because they bribed Accord."
Other one's the Elite; Accord was hiring you out. Some of the cells of Elite are pretty businesslike as villains go, though if you've been following the news lately even the good ones are bad ones. Pretty much any time you've gone to New York at least one job was because they bribed Accord."
ertia
"Thank you," says Kithabel. "I will make your device if I do not hate what you're going to do with it and I will just fly away and deal with my villain problem if you don't tell me."
whole_new_can
"You want to go home? We might be able to find your world, might not, but pretty much no matter what we find it'll make us important. We're opening portals."
ertia
"Yeah, don't. And if I find that you've been doing anything nasty to any other worlds I will consider you my personal responsibility, and I will soon enough be able to travel between worlds on my own to find you in that eventuality. Got it?"