Law of the Sword (Worm/Destiny Quest) (2024)

Sunday, March 13th, 2011
12:00 PM

Right away I start to invest in some of the Sigils, Mirror Mirror is incredible because I've already seen how good my Echo already is. Withering Bloom is another easy choice as it will increase my healing easily. I also pour some power into both the Gunman and Swordsman Sigils so that I can gather more death from those kills. The last one I invest in is Ascension, I'm not sure what it does, but I have enough energy that taking it now won't impact too much.

From one instant to the next, I am back in the real world, I blink a couple of times as my eyes adjust back to the sun. Standing in front of me are my two Echos, who are examining each other. After a few seconds, one prompts the other for a high five, which is quickly reciprocated, only to be thwarted as their hands pass through each other. They both look down at their hands in sync, only to return to copying my actions a second later.

I reorient myself and start looking in the repair shop for a car as well as something that the girl can cover herself with. As I walk around, I have to step around the partially melted remains of Merchants. Looking around, I see that the garage's structure itself seems to have taken a large amount of damage, and I have to assume that my Echo used our acidic blood a lot. It's not hard to find a random jacket which I snatch, but unfortunately there isn't any of Squealer's creations here, which is what I was hoping to find.

I exit the building and lay the jacket across the girl's shoulders before approaching one of the cars lining the road. I feel a little bad about taking someone's car, but with it parked so close to a Merchant haunt, it was probably already stolen or a gangster's car anyway. Picking the one that looks to be in the best shape, I walk up to the kinda old, and definitely not luxury, car.

Where should I take her? The hospitals and police stations are probably already packed full. What about taking her to that rally point that Armsmaster is at? That seems like a good idea. That actually reminds me that the phone went off and I never checked it. I pull it out as my Echos split off to get the car going. There is a text message from Dauntless saying to give him a call once I am able.

The shattering of glass briefly pulls my attention away, and I see the driver's side window is smashed in and one of my Echos fiddling with the ignition lines. Shaking my head at how eager they appear, I swipe the dial button and call Dauntless. It only has the chance to ring once.

"Dauntless speaking." His tone is a lot more stressed than the last time I spoke with him.

"It's Whetstone, you wanted me to call?"

"Ah good! The Empire and ABB are pulling back, but we don't know how long it's going to last. We're having a debrief at the tent you first went to in a few minutes, that something you'd want to be part of?" His voice takes on a friendlier tone as he talks, but the undercut of stress is still there.

"That works out, I have a hostage here that I was going to take there since the hospital and police stations are probably stuffed full." Half a second later, I realize what I said and quickly rush to correct myself. "I mean, I have a girl here that was kept as a hostage, not that I have one." Dauntless lets out a small snort.

"I figured. Do you have an ETA?" The car starts up, and I see that my Echos have retuned to me.

"I don't know how bad the roads are going to be, so I'll estimate ten minutes or so." I say and start walking over to the girl who's been watching me the whole time.

"Got it. We might start before you get here, so just slide into the back or something. I gotta go." He says and then promptly hangs up.

I slide the phone back into my pocket and look down at the girl, the jacket draped across her shoulders makes her look small.

"Alright, there is a rally point a bit away. Taking you there is probably the best option." She looks up at me blankly before nodding.

I pick her up in a bridal carry again, which is significantly harder to do now, and take her over to the car. One of my Echos opens the door for me, and I internally debate if I should say thank you to myself as I set her in the passenger seat. If they can talk then I should probably thank them, but when I go to sign a 'Thank You' they've returned to mimicking me, I sign it anyway so that they'll repeat it.

Swiping the glass off the driver's seat, I sit down and get us moving. Mentally drawing a map, I make it so that we go past my ex-base because I want to see it. The journey is silent besides the wind whipping at my face, I don't put on ant music so that I can hear if a fight is drawing near. With my ears open, I actually hear that, true to Dauntless' word, the sounds of gunfights and general chaos have greatly lessened.

Riding past the bakery, I can see that the front his ripped out and the remaining husk was set on fire at some point. There is a lack of debris, though, which is a little odd. I let out a small sigh but keep going, there wasn't really anything in there that I cared about besides Malum Caedo.

All together, it only takes me seven minutes to reach the street, since as I get closer the roads get better and the lack of any traffic at all also factors into it. There is too much activity around the parking lot that things are set up in for me to park anywhere closer, so I just park here. I leave the car running and get out, pick up the girl, and start walking for the tent with the big red plus sign on it. As I get closer, a nurse sees me approaching and waves me over.

"Problem?" Her tone is direct, but I can tell that it is just exhaustion.

"She was held captive by some Merchants." I force myself to stay calm as I say it. At that, the nurse's eyes sharpen and sweep over the girl in my arms.

"Alright, take her over there," she points to a small area with chairs. "Someone will be by to help her. As for yourself, the meeting is in the big tent, I think it's just started." She says before turning her attention to someone else that has approached.

Letting her get back to her job, I carefully bring the girl over and set her in a sh*tty, straight backed chair that looks like it came from a church. As I set her down, I notice that she is still clutching the knife in both of her hands. I briefly debate taking it from her, but I don't really see a need to. A tugging sensation makes me feel like I should do something else, but I don't know what, so I just nod and move towards the debrief.

Slipping into the main tent, which has grown quite a bit since I was here, I catch the tail end of what sounds like a greeting or introduction. Looking around, I can see nine capes, most of whom I've never heard of. The ones that I do know about though are Glory Girl who is looking worried and hovering beside Brandish, Dauntless and Armsmaster at the front of the room, and lastly I see Shade Skip in a corner with her arms crossed. There are also some PRT troopers, but they are just standing around the room with foam sprayers.

"The current casualty count is up to five hundred and thirty-seven, we do not know why the Empire Eighty-Eight have or the Azn Bad Boys have started to pull back, but we have a good idea." Armsmaster says in a clear voice.

A projector fires to life and displays an overhead of the city with six red dots on it. One of which is drawn overtop the Mt. Elmwood Cemetery, which I know because that is where my family is buried.

"Now," Armsmaster continues. "We have two main updates. Firstly, Panacea is still missing, and I don't need to explain her importance to not just Brockton Bay but also to the world as a whole." At that I can Glory Girl's pretty face contort, but it is smoothed out.

"Secondly, each of the marking on the map is a graveyard. Every one of them is missing most of their bodies. We are currently operating under the assumption that today's fighting was a cover-up for this. Our Thinkers, alongside an anonymous tip, have identified a likely culprit." The screen changes to a picture of some lady, but what he is saying gets drowned out as blood starts rushing in my ears.

Did my family's bodies get f*cking stolen? I force myself to pay attention so that I have all the information I can, on the screen is a dossier with the header of 'Morbistocrat'.

"... can command what we originally thought were projections, but now it is clear that is not the case. Each one of her minions is specifically mutated for a singular purpose, some of which even display abilities similar to that of a parahuman. Morbistocrat is to be considered a high B-Class threat, and there is the possibility of a Kill Order being implemented, but that is not currently the case." He pauses to let the information sink in.

"We have little in the way of leads for either the main operation point for Morbistocrat or the location of Panacea. The entity of the Bay is currently difficult for our thinkers to examine in detail, which is another mater that will be addressed soon. For now, those of you with sensory powers are asked to spread out and gather information you can. Those that don't have any abilities that could be used for scouting are asked to aid in search and rescue operations." He looks around the room once and nods his head before turning to Dauntless and talking in a much quieter voice.

That seems to be the end of the meeting because everyone starts to disperse. My powers are more suited to combat than either of the two options, so I should probably stick with someone else, right?

=={==========-- | --==========}==​

What should I do?
[X][Meeting] Go by myself and check on my family's graves.
[X][Meeting] Talk with Glory Girl.
[X][Meeting] Talk with Shade Skip.
[X][Meeting] Talk with Dauntless and Armsmaster for direction.
[X][Meeting] Write-In:

Do I want to infuse a Sigil?
[X][Sigil] No
[X][Sigil] Yes
-[X][Sigil] Write-In:
(Write in limited to what is available. Only the name is needed.)