[IC] TotM: Directors Cut: World of Worm Chapter 2: Infuriation

[Strider]

"Local law stuff, I'll try to get you in contact with the people you need to talk to. And no, actually this is good, Mr. Stahl. Sorta. There's someone on this world who should be able to determine exactly this stuff's effect. We're actually gonna go on a bit of a field trip to see them I think. I'll eat it then Stretch, okay?"

 

He wasn't going to up and leave until Uber and Leet got here. But he could probably set up the appointment.

 

Turning on on of the old comms sets from last time they'd been here, Harry tried to reach Dragon. "Hey, guess who's back."

[StormLord]

Sha'Tith gave a bit of a huff of smoke as Harry proceeded to answer all of the other Skyfaller's questions without even acknowledging him.  He couldn't exactly blame the Skyfaller, if there had been another Lumarian here he'd put them on a priority above anyone else.  So instead of waiting he decided to move over and look at one of the tables covered in...things he could only theorize the purpose of.  Some of the were definitely weapons and others he recognized as torture devices, but a few baffled him.

 

It was strange to him, that he had heard Skyfallers refer to his people as brutal, violent, and animalistic(not that he knew that at the time, stepping through the portals to other worlds had certainly revealed things he hadn't expected.), and yet here he was in a room surrounded by implements of violence on display.  His attention was torn from the metal hooked device on the end of a set of hoses(he'd seen Skyfallers use something similar to cut metal beams before, but didn't know how to make it glow) when he saw a box of tiny metal spears.

 

At first he considered that perhaps one or both of these "Uber" and "Leet" were simply diminutive and needed such a small weapon, but quickly dismissed the theory due the the prevalence and size of other equipment.  Maybe they were fired from some kind of larger weapon?  They looked about the right size as other things that Skyfallers shot with fire and steel....but no they were too flimsy for that, they'd be vaporized on impact.  Perhaps they were training an army of tiny soldiers?  But why have tiny soldiers when you can have large soldier?

 

Then it occurred to him, they must be for use by children.  It was no secret that Skyfallers considered children just as viable threats as adults despite most hatchlings being hardly able to leave the nest much less put up a fight against their weapons.  Something his people had witnessed first hand during the massacre of the starry meadows.  They had awoken to the death cries of hundreds of dying Spectral Children and the rifle fire of Skyfallers.  Something ancient and terrifying awoke that night as well.

 

He took the box of tiny spears.

 

[DragonRage]

"Mirri Av.  I end problems.  Sometimes for money.  Always if it needs to be done," The Mandalorian introduces herself briefly, "I've been collaborating extensively with local engineers.  ...And taking anger management courses.  It's helped.  If you need some skulls knocked together or metalwork done, I can handle it.  I'm also a good pilot."

[Endlessblaze]

Takumi Looked at Stretch trying to process what he had just done.
Did he just create matter from energy? Where was that power coming from? How did he direct it so easily. Whatever process he was using to control it produced no waves in the audible range. And to create matter like that that the D-waves would have to be...

More concerningly how far away could that stuff get from him? Artificial matter required energy to sustain it after all. Was it possible that this was one of those Physical Law differences that had been mentioned?

Hmmmmm….

He would need to study that power later...
If those stone...gummy...things had healing powers would they maybe...

He looked down at his chest.
No that was stupid....Then again...
Pink had said that all short term concerns had been dealt with. 

By the end of his thinking anyone with functioning eyes could tell he was wracking his brain about something, and eventualy he just scratched the back of his head and muttered
"Auhhggg this is so confusing."

[Hal Henderics]

It's around this point that a fit person and a scrawny fellow walk in.

Both of them are wearing giant fake mustaches, though one is in a red jumpsuit, and the other, a white labcoat.

 

They look needfully shocked at the arrival of so many people.

 

"Uhh, Mirri, you want to explain this one?"

 

"Hey, what the heck are you doing with my thumbtacks!"  The labcoated one says.

 

-

 

Harry, meanwhile, gets put on hold for exactly 38 seconds, down to the nanosecond.

"Hello, Harry.  It's good to hear from you."

[DragonRage]

"They got sent in by the same group that picked the rest of us.  Reinforcements.  I got no idea what the lizard guy wants with your thumbtacks, but I was under the impression they weren't expensive to replace.  Also no idea who decided your lab made a good entry point, but they've yet to break anything," Mirri informs the pair of Mario cosplayers, "Apparently this guy," She points to Stretch, "Can make magic healing pills from his secretions or something.  Harry wants to take him to the PRT to make sure they won't give people superpowered cancer."

[Strider]

Harry, for reasons that should be obvious, did not note the precision of the thirty eight second wait. "Same here. Couple of things, we've got a few new people around here, just showed up. Be aware of that, sorry in advance. Second, I'd like to set up an appointment with Panacea. Mainly to test if someone's powers are safe to use to heal around here, and to get a bit of insight regarding a few things. Compensation would be in the form of helping out with patients, if there are no issues."

 

 

 

 

[StormLord]

"Thumb...tacks?"

He held one of the "tacks" up to has own hand comparing them to his claws.

"Are Skyfaller claws so frail something such as this is even an improvement?"

With aa minor effort he bends over the end of one of the tacks as if to test just how unsuitable they are.

"I thought they might be spears for tiny warriors or children."

[Yours Truly]

Lucian nodded in Harry's direction, and responded with a curt, "Well in that case I wish the three of you the best. Although I do hope that you won't mind if I...refrain from consuming one for the time being." He slowly and politely sauntered off a little further to the side after he finished speaking, and as two men he assumed was the 'kinda criminals' they would be working with entered the room, he took the opportunity to recompose himself a little while Mirri fielded their questions, and he stepped forward to greet them the moment she finished with a piercing look, a serious expression on his face, and a calm and polite tone to his voice, "Uber and Leet I presume? My name is Lucian Stahl, I was sent here along with my associates to assist Dr. Walters and company with their...humanitarian efforts, and I'm looking forward to working with you two in the future."

[Powder Miner]

Stretch turned to Sha'tith and, immediately latching onto his theory about thumbtacks, earnestly explained to him that "I'm pretty sure that "thumb tacks" are used when you, like, don't have enough fingers (I think when you have less than five fingers it's Five Finger Disease, someone told me that people are supposed to have five fingers on each hand) and if you have a half finger or something, or something like that so you, like, use one of those to complete the finger. It's probably a very common problem. There's a medicine called Manitol that will just give you an extra finger but I guess that if you have a half finger instead of no finger then this would be more useful." Stretch turned and nodded at Harry, confident that the doctor would appreciate his medical expertise.

 

With that explained, Stretch immediately turned to Uber and Leet and wobbled-walked up to them enthusiastically, extending a six-fingered hand. "Hey! I'm sorry for, uh, suddenly existing in your, uh... place? But we just got yanked from a bunch of different worlds and stuff to save all the worlds from these nasty guys called Trespassers that I think want to eat all the worlds. We talked to this guy named, uh, Artemis Fowl, and he had a cool mansion, and he dropped us off right here to do the world-saving stuff. OH! And my name is Stretch Armstrong, it's nice to meet you!"

[Endlessblaze]

Takumi looks at Stretch and the lizard person with a look of dumbfounded confusion, and then just confusion as he tries to process this. 

"Ive never heard of thumb tacks being used in that manner outside of various artforms. There to small and easy to dent to be a good weapon unless you used some strong posion or something, and aren't big enough or sturdy enough to serve as even part of a finger. You would be a million times better off with a proper prosthetic of some kind. You use thumb tacks to pin things to the wall or a board, or to hang things on. You know, papers, notices, pictures? Things that you need or want to be seen." 

"If pepole in your worlds use them to replace fingers or as weapons then I would hate to see what your arm replacements and defenses look like. But I suppose, stranger things have happened."

Takumi turns his attention to the pepole he presumed were Uber and Leet. Harry had said they were criminals and he wasent sure how to deal with that, but for the moment figured he would play along, and once again introduces himself.

"Takumi lagoon. Research assistant and lab Technician for the Archia Think Tank."
Also extending his hand.
 

[Strider]

Harry patiently stared at the man, a bemused expression makings its home on his face. When Stretch turned to nod confidently, Harry simply shook his head faintly, unsure how else to even respond.

 

He addressed the one carrying the tacks gently. "Takumi's right in this world. Maybe in other worlds, they do something else, but here, well they'd probably be used exactly as he says. Do you need a weapon?"

 

"And Stretch, is what you used to make those rocks called mana? Looks similar to some other guy's work I know."

[Powder Miner]

"I... guess that it would make sense to use thumb tacks like that." Stretch hadn't actually heard of thumb tacks before -- he had just been going off of what seemed intuitive to him, "I admit that I guess I don't know super much about replacement stuff besides Manitol, 'cuz I just heal up whenever I get hurt and I think I could probably grow an arm back if I had one get sliced off or something. I did regrow an eye once in a couple of seconds, you know!"

 

"Uhhh, nope! This is called Magic Juice," another thing Stretch said with utter confidence, "and the way that Magic Juice works is that you touch it to things and it kind of changes in response to them. You can get Diamond Magic Juice, like the kind I normally make because of the diamond I accidentally dropped into my soul that one time, for example, which heals things but makes them softer and more elastic. If I need to, I could heal someone this way, but I would have to be much more careful with it so I don't turn them stretchy! If I touch it to rock, for example, I get Rock Magic Juice, which makes rocks. You can also put Magic Juice with multiple things, like Diamond Magic Juice then touched to rocks, which makes my Life Stones. There's a lot of ways to put Magic Juice together, which depends on order and making new Magic Juices with the stuff you made from other Magic Juices which then makes stuff you can then get NEW Magic Juices from, so it gets pretty crazy, but I've figured out a few useful things."

[DragonRage]

"So you have no idea how it works, or how you do it, but it does when you do it as long as you don't mind unpredictable side effects," Mirri sums up with a caustic eye-roll that can be seen through her entirely opaque, closed-face helmet, "That's real comforting.  I'd rather take my chances."

[kj1225]

Seeing that he can't understand the machinery in the shop, Conway does the obvious thing. He starts to fuck around with them, trying to turn them on and see if he can discern their use from the noises and movements they're making. Or he'll just try to read any labels available and seeing what they say.

[Powder Miner]

Stretch’s smile turned into a frown once again as he looked at Mirri — potentially a little affrontedly, though when he spoke again his voice was still gentle, just a little more contemplative. ”I don’t remember saying any of that. Magic Juice comes from my soul, and I use it pretty directly. Uh, I guess when I try out new kinds of Magic Juice they can be unpredictable but, like, each kind of Magic Juice does the same thing whenever I use it. Diamond Magic Juice heals a lot and softens whenever I use it, and Diamond Rock Juice creates weaker but safe healing in the form of the Life Stones whenever I use it. I don’t really see what’s wrong with that.”

[Strider]

"Yeah, no, that pretty much sounds like the mana stuff. Maybe it's a regional difference. And Mirri, I rather doubt you'd trust yourself to Leo either, though. . . " Harry realized something here.

 

"Wait, you've probably seen him right, through the videos?"

[DragonRage]

"I haven't been watching the videos," Mirri admits, "I've been... busy."

[StormLord]

Sha'Tith shook his head slightly at the explanation, argument, and re-explanation.  He pauses a moment to think before responding in a sort of disapproving disappointed tone.

 

"How....Mundane."

 

He sort of dropped the box of tacks back onto the table, managing not to spill them everywhere in the process.  At that point he heard a familiar name and unmistakable description.

 

"Leo.  Foolishness.  Curiosity without restraint always leads to the same place, down the wrong cave and the throat of a Magma Worm."

[Strider]

"That may be the case, but he's got a lot of potential. Hopefully the recklessness can be addressed."

 

"I haven't watched the videos either, so I've got no idea if Uber and Leet edited him out. Did you?"

[Projeck]

"Wait, videos...? You guys shoot videos of your missions? I guess that's not too odd..."

Bianca shrugged, and inspected her clothes idly, fixing the cuff of her sleeve as her glance passed it. She looked around at the group, then to Harry. She did her best to not react with sheer confusion to what the Lizard person was saying. She smiled at the doctor.

"So... Harry, was it? What precisely are we uh... waiting on? This PRT that you mentioned?"

[Hal Henderics]

The pair decide to, rightly and vigorously, ignore most of the discussion going on so far.

 

"We only edited out the most questionable bits."

 

"There were... a few."

 

He pauses surprisingly awkwardly, before continuing.

 

"If you're looking to meet the PRT, the entire city's pretty much erupting into flames.  Good a time as any to meet the heroes."  Uber says casually, turning on the local news.

 

A group of youths in costumes appear to be standing outside of a bank, while some asshole on a segway shouts out at them from inside the bank.

 

"Undersiders hold Hostages in Brockton Central Bank"

Flipping to the next channel, It looks like a limousine is being chased by another, larger limousine, while a tide of bugs flood the streets chasing after both of them.  Various attempts at hemming them in on the police's part seem to be failing at every turn.

 

"Chitan chases kidnappers down first street, Mayor's daughter in peril"

 

On the next channel, some drunk bum is screaming at police helicopters while using planes of force to fling rubble at them, while a trash golem sweeps the ground clean of any especially brave police officers nearby while other scruffy vagrants fire weapons vaguely policeward.

 

"Merchants cause chaos in rampant territory bid, claim retaliation against PART."

[Powder Miner]

Stretch's eyes widened as he watched the TV reports -- he was frankly completely overwhelmed. He had been dealing with a couple of issues back home, one being impending and very bad, but never had he been at the center of so much chaos going on without him involved. Had he bounced his way around randomly and accidentally become the ruler of a village of raiders and dedicated himself to changing their ways to peace and solving the survival issues that had led them to raiding? Yes. But this was something of a different matter - now, he wasn't actually operating at his own bizarre pace. But people WERE getting hurt, and that was horrible.

 

"We have to do something!" Stretch declared, smacking his fist into his palm, causing both to bounce away with a slightly rubbery sound. "But... we can't be in all three places at once... I guess unless one of us actually can be in all three places at once... but, like, I don't think anyone can do that, so... maybe we should split up! There are other people we can help in those places, after all! I want to go help out the people getting stuff thrown at them or getting shot at -- they could get killed!! I need to go stop that."

[Strider]

"Sure. That's uh, probably a good idea. PART is what we got named. Kinda. So that's our mess." Harry grimaced, then shrugged. They'd just have to take care of it.

 

"I'll go on the mayors daughter team. I've seen the bug cape before, and I think they've seen me, so maybe that'll go alright. Does anyone else have medical training? Need someone on bank duty."

 

"For the mayor, I'm gonna need a ride. Do any of you have one?" Harry asked the assembled group.

[DragonRage]

“I have a starfighter,” Mirri states, “I’ll join the chase. Two will be a bit of a tight fit, but as long as we’re in atmosphere that’s not a problem. My X-Wing is modified to carry a passenger in case a bounty was wanted alive. “