Meanwhile, Emily Piggot was having an angry, panic attack several floors up.
It wasn't much of a secret that she hated Bio-tinkers in general, no matter how seemingly harmless they appeared on the surface. For highly obvious reasons.
So you can imagine that this hadn't exactly been a good month for her so thus far. What with the false alarm that the demon projections had caused a while ago. The way the demon-like creatures just kept on coming out of the ground endlessly, and the way the buildings had changed to suit their aesthetic… Well, that had given her some very severe Nilbog flashbacks as nothing else had.
So naturally, she had announced to the entire PRT and the other directors out there that there was possibly an S-class threat in Brockton Bay that needed to be contained right away.
So imagine her humiliation when it turned out that those demons were just projections that disappeared after seven hours, and the buildings themselves returned back to normal afterward.
AND NOW THIS!! Apparently, everyone in the building was now convinced that they were a chocolate-themed bio-tinker… herself included.
This had to be a master influence of some kind…. There was no way she would actually be a Bio-tinker now. Somebody had to be playing a cruel joke on her.
So naturally, the entire building was now on Master/Stranger lockdown until they figured out what was going on.
Miss Militia was staring at her worriedly. "Ma'am, you should try to relax some more. Remember your condition…"
Emily Piggot was about to say something when-- >Ding<
Roll 22-- St. George's Austrian High School.
Everyone in the building is now permanent Multilingual speakers, with high proficiency in both Turkish and German languages alongside whatever languages they already knew. They also gain a minor thinker's ability to know about the cultural contexts behind every word they speak.
"Ben iyiyim, bunun arkasında kim varsa yakalamalıyız!" Emily found herself saying.
<(I'm fine, we should focus on capturing the one behind this!)>
Miss Militia blinked. "You spoke Turkish. And I understood every word."
The two women looked at each other, thinking this was the strangest master effect that they had ever experienced. Nothing else could explain this… nothing!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Roll 15-- Jiao Yulu is a 1990 Chinese biographical film. The film tells the story of Jiao Yulu overseeing the development of Lankao County in Henan province from 1962 to 1964. The film premiered in China in April 1990.A Chinese guy in his forties dinged into existence, and to make things even more awkward he started panicking when he realized right away that he could remember his entire life in biographical detail.
"Zhè shì shénme? Wèishéme wǒ hái néng jì zhù yīqiè? Wèishéme wǒ hái jìdé zìjǐ de sǐ? Zhè shì láishì ma?" He screamed his questions in rapid chinese, as he looked about himself wildly.
<(What's this? Why can I remember everything? why do I remember my own death?? Is this the afterlife??)>
"Please calm down…" Annette said in her best calming voice, wishing that the earlier roll from earlier had enabled her to know Chinese right away. Sadly, she only knew Turkish, Austrian, and English now.
The man backed himself into a corner quite literally as he panted heavily, and he dropped to his knees and started sobbing.
"Oh jeez." Annette frowned slightly.
She looked over to the windows where people were still watching her at work.
"Anybody know Chinese?"
One of the scientists raised their hand at this, and then came into the room to try to calm the poor guy down.
It was then that PRT officers milled into the room, telling everyone that there was a Master/Stranger situation going on and that everyone was to be screened and contained until things cleared up.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
--late at night--
"Oh boy, that was rough," Annette grumbled to herself as she stepped foot into her house.
To say that Emily Piggot was seriously pissed off when she found out that everything Annette did wasn't a master influence, after all, was an understatement.
The obese woman had ranted at her endlessly about how turning people into parahumans against their will wasn't good at all… not to mention that this would severely upset the order of things in the PRT.
Emily had even brought one of her bosses on a teleconference call, just so that Annette could have it explained to her why what she did was a very bad thing indeed.
So, it turned out that the reason why the PRT existed alongside the Protectorate was so that Normals could keep the Parahumans accountable for their actions, and all that jazz. It also meant that any PRT officer and the PRT director couldn't have a parahuman power otherwise, or that meant that they were disqualified for the job.
Which meant that Annette had just accidentally put the PRT director Emily Piggot and god know how many PRT Officers in the building out of a job. Oops. And it didn't even matter that the Protectorate would be happy to suddenly have roughly 1,080 chocolate-themed bio-tinkers join their ranks… there was still the principle of the thing… namely the fact that the order balance of things had been severely upset here.
Even the visitors and tourists visiting the giftshops had been "blessed" with Annette Hebert's roll causing them to become chocolate bio-tinkers themselves!
And well, that was going to be a real bitch to keep that from getting out to the public.
So yeah, Annette really fucked things up without meaning to. Which seemed to be the story of her life lately.
For some weird reason though, She got the feeling that Rebecca Costa-Brown wasn't too terribly angry at her and instead seemed interested in the fact that not only could she apparently summon capes from another world, she could also give other people who didn't even have a Corona Pollentia superpowers.
That under her stern demeanor, the PRT Chief Deputy Director seemed downright...gleeful…. Over that idea? Nah, that had to be her imagination.
"Hey, honey. You're in late." A tired-looking Danny greeted her as she came into the kitchen and shrugged off her jacket.
"Master-stranger screening at the protectorate-PRT Headquarters. It's the reason why I got so held up." She mumbled wearily as she sat down at the table.
Her husband merely nodded at this, and then asked, "So…. are you going to join the Protectorate?"
Annette grimaced slightly. "I don't know. I mean, I'm perfectly happy just being an English professor. A part of me just wants to never use my powers ever again and just be normal on the outside… but, a larger part of me just seems to want to keep on using my power no matter what. Um, I get this annoying itch in my brain that won't go away if I've been going too long without using it… and it only goes away if I use it. And each time it always feels like such a relief when I finally use it…."
Danny sighed slightly. "I hear it's a lot like that for most parahumans. That most don't even like to stay in retirement very long…. They end up going back out there as capes even if it meant it'd kill them."
Annette smiled slightly. "If it's any consolation, I'm not exactly keen on the idea of going out there in costume and attacking baddies. I nearly died once, and I don't care to repeat that experience. Besides, I don't ever want to leave you and Taylor."
Danny smiled back at this and reached over the table to take Annette's hand. The two of them held hands together for a while as they pondered what the future was going to bring them next time.
Annette then broke the silence by saying, "I don't think the PRT-Protectorate wants me back there anymore….after the stunt I accidentally pulled with my powers. I think they're cottoning on to the fact that my powers are utterly randomized, that I can't control the results at all no matter how I try. I don't think they want a cape that can't even control her powers at all."
"I see… so you're going to register as an independent?" Danny wondered.
Annette just shrugged. "Seems like the best route to take, doesn't it? Although… I'd have to wear a costume again, just like when I ran with Lustrum as one of her henchwomen."
Danny smirked. "Well… it wouldn't be too much of a hardship on my part seeing you wear that leather get up again."
She sighed loudly. "I doubt it even fits me anymore… I don't have the same body I did in college, you know."
Danny's eyes raked over Annette's body. "I think you're selling yourself a tad short there… I think you're the same as ever."
That got a smile out of Annette. "Flatterer."
"Gosh, this is so cool! You're finally getting a costume and everything! Even though it's your old college one…." Taylor bounced up and down on her parents' bed as she watched her mother try on her old costume from her Lustrum days.
Taylor had known about Annette's shady past in her college days, as seeing she didn't want to hide anything from family if she had to. But, she and Danny had always framed it as her falling in with the wrong crowd for a while so that Taylor wouldn't think that henching for a supervillainess was a good idea.
And of course, when they got taken to the PRT to be tested for a parahuman ability there had been no hiding it from Taylor that Annette now had a parahuman ability. And not only that but both Danny and Taylor also had the ability to trigger.
Naturally, Taylor had thought this was the coolest thing ever and kept on asking her mom when she was going to go out and become a superheroine, and also when she was going to develop her own superpower too. She seemed to think that becoming a new superhero family similar to New Wave would be awesome.
That was when Annette and Danny had to sit down with Taylor and give her the TALK. No, not the talk about safe sex, but the one about why experiencing a trigger wasn't such a good thing. And why it was utterly stupid and reckless as hell in trying to get yourself to trigger by putting oneself in dangerous situations.
That had dampened Taylor's enthusiasm a little bit when she realized that her mom had gone through a truly traumatic experience to get the power that she did. But her passion for cape-related things wasn't snuffed out completely, for Taylor was still hell-bent on seeing her mom become a Cool Superhero. After all, if Taylor herself couldn't become a superhero right away then she was going to live vicariously through her mom.
Unfortunately, Annette didn't feel too much like a superheroine as she did a stuffed sausage.
She was still slender and tall, but that didn't mean that motherhood and age hadn't caught up to her… she had gotten a tad thick in some areas. Namely her thighs and her butt. And when she had been pregnant with Taylor, her breasts had expanded in size slightly to get ready for breastfeeding, but then had gotten a tad saggy after that was over.
So, as a result, her old costume was a little tight in some areas, and she couldn't even zip up her black PVC leather catsuit all the way up in the front so most of her torso save for her boobs were completely exposed all the way to her belly button. She felt somewhat ridiculous in her old costume… so it was definitely time for a new one.
At least this customized motorcycle helmet still fit her head.
"Annette, are you done putting on your costu--" Danny cut off soon as he walked into the room and saw what she was wearing.
Where Annette saw an aging mom-body, Danny only saw a beautiful woman filling out that sexy, shiny PVC leather suit in all the right places. It especially enhanced her butt, which made him gulp loudly.
He then said, "Taylor… I have 30 dollars in my wallet downstairs. Why don't you go ahead and take that out and go call Emma? Maybe she'll want to go to the movies with you."
Annette took off her helmet, looking vaguely puzzled at this until she noticed the look Danny was giving her. She then grinned. "Actually, why don't you take another ten out of my purse downstairs too? You know how the movie theaters like to overcharge for their snacks… my treat."
Taylor's eyes widened at this? "Really? Oh boy!"
At this, she ran out of the room and the two of them could hear her run down the stairs.
Annette smirked slightly. "Anything to get me alone, eh?"
Danny wiggled his eyebrows at her. "You know it. It'll take Taylor some time to get ready to leave, so that gives us some time to warm up…"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>Ding<
Roll 2-- Romantic (song). a song by American singer Karyn White from her second studio album Ritual of Love (1991).
For two hours, this song will play in the background, with a mild mind-altering effect. All adults in the entire block feel young again and become in the mood for some lovin' with their significant other.As Taylor left the house with her own set of keys and other things she needed in her green backpack, she was alerted to the fact that there was some R&B song playing in the background.
Huh, weird, she didn't think that her parents were into that kind of music. Well, whatever.
She just shrugged and got on her bike. She rode away in the direction of Emma's house.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
--sometimes later--
>Ding<
Roll 18-- Youth empowerment. The process where children and young adults are encouraged to take charge of their lives.
A mild thinker/master combo. Due to the fact that we rolled an 18, this ability isn't very powerful and only merely enhances Annette's teaching ability so that her students have an easier time retaining what she teaches them, and is more likely to become inspired and motivated to do more with their lives. When Annette gives an inspirational speech the youth is more likely to listen to her than any other demographic does.
"That was awesome, honey. I didn't think I would feel so young like that again." Annette panted slightly as she laid there under the sheets.
"Definitely. But, your suit's a total bust now…" Danny agreed as he glanced down at the torn catsuit lying on the floor.
"That's okay, I was gonna get a new one anyway." She replied with a smile.
The two of them then laid there for a while in silence, with mildly satisfied smiles on their faces.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The next morning, just as she stepped out of the steamy hot shower that she had been enjoying earlier, she felt that familiar itch in the back of her head when her power seemed to feel that she had gone too long without pulling it.
"Hold on to your horses, jeez." She wanted to get dressed and get food first. This way, she'd be ready for anything. This time, she wouldn't have some strange man pop in suddenly out of nowhere if she could help it.
Once she was fully clothed, she went downstairs to see that Danny had gone ahead and cooked her breakfast again.
She grinned at her husband. He was such a sweetheart.
Taylor was sitting on the other side of the kitchen table, so she sat down across from her.
But she couldn't enjoy this idyllic scene before herself because that itch kept on getting stronger.
She sighed loudly, grabbing the attention of her family. "I need to pull again, I can't put it off anymore. The itch's gotten too strong. Be ready for anything strange."
Both Taylor and Danny nodded, and they tensed slightly, ready for anybody or anything that might pop in out of nowhere.
>Ding.< Annette let out a strong sigh of relief as the itch went away.
Roll 21-- Mega Man. Mega Man, known as Rockman in Japan, is a science fiction video game franchise created by Capcom, starring a series of robot characters each known by the moniker "Mega Man". Mega Man, released for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1987, was the first in a series that expanded to over 50 games on multiple systems.
Effect: Everyone except Annette in this home and in the neighboring houses now gains a Tinker ability where they can create anything from the Mega Man franchise.
Annette blinked. Well, she hadn't expected that at all.
Danny narrowed his eyes. "Did you just empower me with a Tinker ability? Because I'm getting all those ideas on how to build robots all of a sudden..."
Taylor gasped happily. "I got it too! God, this is so great! This means we're now officially a superhero family! I'm already getting so many ideas for our outfits, we could all have cool robot suits! This is so awesome!"
As Taylor chattered and rambled on about all the ideas she had, Annette sat back in her seat, unsure how to feel about this. On the one hand, it was clear that they were no longer going to have a normal family life. But on the other hand, Having her husband and daughter backing her up as a new team might be good?
Just like New Wave. Although, there was no way in hell that they were going to unmask as they did. That would be just stupid.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
--A few days later--
They all had debated on the pros and cons of just straight up starting a new independent team instead of joining up with the Protectorate.
The Protectorate could easily take in both Annette and Danny now that two of them had a usable Tinker power. But she still worried that they would just see her as a liability now that they knew how random and uncontrolled her ability was. And It wasn't like she could just turn off her Randomizer power.
On one hand, the Protectorate would definitely give them more of a steady income than being independent were. But on the other hand, they might become nothing but paid goons who were told to keep their heads down and do nothing to change the city in any positive way.
That was the sort of thing that could get on Annette's nerves very, very easily… She was the kind of person who got tired of there being some status quo, especially if it seemed to favor the bad guys more than it did the good guys. And when she got tired of something, she liked to do something about it instead of keeping her head down and going along with it.
That was one of the reasons why she had first joined Lustrum's movement in college…. Because she had been so sick and tired of the rampant sexism that was going on in the '80s. There had been some male college professors who seemed to deliberately give the female students lower grades, and when Annette had confronted one of the men on it, he had then said that there was no point in giving women high marks, as seeing most of them were just going to be housewives eventually. If the majority of women weren't going to use their college degrees to good use, then there was no point in giving them good grades. Worse, the college had known about this but didn't want to fire the professors at all because it would've been too much of a pain for them to fire this many teachers and then hire new ones.
That had been enough to radicalize Annette for a good while and she joined a movement on campus that she had thought was meant to empower women and show everyone else that they were more than just glorified baby-making machines, a domestic dishwasher, etc.
Of course, as time went on, the group had increasingly become more violent and radical than she was comfortable with. The ideas they came up with, like when they suggested that any man who were married to a woman should be castrated and collared like slaves?
Definitely too much for her. Annette was more of a feminist than she was a Lustrumite. That is, she believed in equal rights for everyone and that they were to be treated all the same… whereas a Lustrumite seemed to believe that all men were monsters and were not to be trusted, etc.
That was one of the many reasons why she had left the organization… One of the other reasons being that she had fallen in love with Danny, and she liked him just the way he was and wanted to keep him intact. Especially so because he was a real beast in bed, despite how he looked, and she liked that about him too. Losing a talent like that to Lustrum's knife would have been such a crying shame.
Anyways, Annette herself had ended up leaning towards being an independent team… mainly because this way it'd be easier for herself to set forth ground rules, etc… instead of adhering to rules that somebody else had already set for her. Plus, she knew all too well how joining an organization with good intentions could easily go awry.
So… this now led them to the fact that all three of them were now at the boat graveyard at night, wearing safety welding goggles and holding electronic tools designed to take things apart. Because with the protectorate off the table they wouldn't be able to get the resources needed to build their robot costumes. Hence, salvaging at the boat graveyard for metals and things like that.
Plus, the boat graveyard was also an excellent place to let loose and really pull to see whatever else happened without worrying about affecting anybody else. All she could do was hope that she didn't summon any more people though.
As she watched Danny help Taylor pry something off a boat, she pulled on her power.
>Ding<
Roll 16-- Millyard Viper V10. A motorcycle capable of going over 200mph.
A normal racing-type motorcycle, one that can go very, very fast.
Neat. They could easily use this, so this was actually very useful. She decided to move it so that it was next to Danny's work truck, so that way Danny would be able to load it up in the back with the rest of the boat scraps that they had salvaged.
She then pulled again.
>Ding<
Roll 14-- Shipbuilding.
Everyone currently in the ship graveyard now knows how to build ships of all types… but only ships that have existed throughout history
Huh. Weird that she'd get this one when they were in the boat graveyard…. A coincidence?
Danny and Taylor came back carrying something heavy and made out of metal, so Annette moved to help them carry it into the back of the truck.
It was then that Danny noticed the motorcycle and raised one eyebrow. Annette just shrugged her shoulders and grinned.
She helped him secure it in the back, and then he went back to look at the rest of the boat that he was helping Taylor tear apart for parts. Taylor followed after him.
>Ding<
Roll 21--Anti-hijack system.
Annette gains a tinker ability to build anti-theft devices, which works best with vehicles of all types.
Hmm, not bad at all…. Actually very useful. Why was her power being so cooperative with her tonight? It was kind of suspicious. Did this mean that her power tended to be more cooperative if she didn't try to control and direct it?
Come to think of it, when she had tried to force it to give her the results she wanted, it had acted more contrary and seemed to give her nothing but more of what she DIDN'T want. hmm.
>Ding<
Roll 25-- GSLV Mark III. also referred to as the Launch Vehicle Mark 3 (LVM3), is a three-stage medium-lift launch vehicle developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). Primarily designed to launch communication satellites into geostationary orbit, it is also identified as the launch vehicle for crewed missions under the Indian Human Spaceflight Programme and dedicated science missions like Chandrayaan-2.
Effect: it becomes a LaunchPad and Vehicle that will constantly regenerate and rebuild itself over time no matter how many times it is torn apart and salvaged for parts. It cannot be destroyed in any fashion at all. And, if you launch the vehicle as it was intended to be and doesn't return the rocket afterward, then the LaunchPad will simply build itself another one. The parts that are taken away from it just become normal metals and objects once it is no longer part of the LaunchPad and Vehicle.
Annette gaped as one of the nearby old warehouses by the boat graveyard suddenly transformed itself into what looked like a space shuttle with a massive, towering launch pad.
...
…
Never mind, her power was definitely trolling her no matter what she did. And it was time for her family to leave.
There was no way this thing wasn't going to attract attention, it was going to be clearly visible from afar in all directions as seeing there were no tall buildings in this area to block your view of it.
"Whoah, cool!!" Taylor gushed as she saw the space rocket. "Does this mean…?"
"NO." Danny cut her off, knowing all too well what she wanted to do. And that was just an extremely bad idea in general since they were all trying to keep a low profile right now.
"Awww…" Taylor whined, but she complied anyways as she got into the truck.
Both Annette and Danny got in after her, and they quickly drove off before the wrong sort of people came by to see what was going on here.
=======================================================
Author notes: So Annette learned a very important lesson. Namely, that if you try to force RNG-Jesus to be something that she can control, then it'll be stubbornly unhelpful. It tends to be more helpful when you're letting it do its thing…. But it still can be a massive troll at times.
Also, is it just me or did we just create a SCP-like thing inside the Worm Setting?
Author notes: So, for this chapter, I decided to roll the dice and wiki articles ahead of time up to five rolls beforehand. And then try to see how that'd affect the plotline I had written up here.
And you'd never guess it, but I actually ended up with two rolls that were positively apocalyptic in nature…So I was forced to re-roll per the rules. For those who are curious:
The first roll was a fringe TV episode where some guy brings a deadly virus onboard a plane and then mutates into this spiky monster thing, and everyone else on board becomes monsters too, but they all fight, crashing the plane in the process.
And that first roll was meant for the scene where assault and battery go to confirm Annette's side of the story here. Literally, This would mean that everyone on the block mutating into monster porcupines and then constantly spreading this highly contagious virus around until everyone in Brockton Bay was infected. And it was a super high roll too, so that meant that this virus couldn't be destroyed and would eventually spread to the rest of the world. Instant game over. You can see why I had to re-roll this one.
The second one was an article on meteor strikes for the scene where Annette was teaching her class. That was a high roll one too, so that meant it'd be a huge-ass meteor that would take out the entirety of Brockton Bay. My reaction at this point was: "-__-..... Really, RNG Jesus?"
One would get the feeling that RNG Jesus didn't want me to keep on continuing this story… hmm. Heh. But in the end, I did get re-rolls that were more… thematically appropriate?
==============================================================
Everyone was eating breakfast in the living room the next morning, as they watched the news on TV. Sure enough, the space rocket that Annette had summoned was all over the news like she knew it would be.
As Annette suspected, The Merchants had been the first ones on the scene to check out the rocket itself considering that the boat graveyard was close to the merchants' turf.
Surprisingly, it had taken the PRT and Protectorate a while to get there as they were said to be busy with some complications that came up at their headquarters. Annette felt a pang of guilt at this.
So by the time they got there, the merchants had already decided that they'd lay claim to the rocket for both Skidmark and Squealer, and it was said that the bosses had arrived at the same time that the Protectorate heroes Velocity, Battery and one ward (Triumph), so there had been a tense stand-off between them as they both tried to find out how this rocket came to be here.
By the time that PRT officers finally came along as backup, a fight had broken out between the protectorate heroes and the Merchant villains. There was a video of the entire incident as recorded by a witness, although they had to bleep out and mute a lot of audio due to Skidmark's infamous profanity AND Triumph's sound-based attacks.
Unfortunately, the Protectorate heroes got their asses handed to them due to being short-staffed so the merchants had possession of the rocket for now. But the PRT was already assuring the public that they wouldn't let the Merchants have it for very long and that they intended to secure it shortly as they could.
There was a knock on the door, and Danny got up to answer it.
A tired-looking Assault and Battery came into the living room not too long afterward, followed in by Danny.
"So, what brings you two here?" Annette said, a tad too brightly. She had been trying to sound her best to sound completely innocent but had failed.
Assault snorted. "As if you don't know…." With that, he glanced at the TV screen showing the rocket meaningfully.
Annette grimaced slightly at this. "Um… how is everyone at the PRT building doing?"
"Just fine. The Higher-ups are currently in a debate on what to do about the 'ENE Brockton Bay situation', and right now they're having all personnel who were unaffected by your trump effect take over Protectorate and PRT duties until they can regain some sense of stability." Battery replied.
Assault then sarcastically said, "Since Battery and I here were outside of the building at the time it happened, we're one of the very few who got unaffected by your trump ability. Which means we get double the workload until things go back to normal. Whoo, yay."
"Would you like some coffee? We already brewed some." Danny sounded highly sympathetic.
"Yes/Please." Assault and Battery said at the same time.
Danny went to get them some cups as coffee as the two of them continued to question Annette on why she was in the boat graveyard last night.
She gave them a detailed summary, starting with how she had unintentionally turned her family into robot tinkers and ending with her reasoning that since she had upset the PRT's natural order so much, that it'd probably be better to become an independent instead so that she wouldn't do her thing near the PRT building.
Assault had simply nodded at this as seeing this made sense to him. "So, have you decided on a name yet? We've been calling you Displacement as a placeholder name at first… although that name clearly doesn't fit anymore."
"I was thinking maybe… Kismet? It refers to fate and fortune, both good and bad." Annette suggested tentatively. She then said, "My husband and daughter haven't come up with anything for themselves yet."
Battery wrote this down, drank the coffee that Danny had brought them quick as they could, and they left afterward.
Annette let out a loud sigh of relief. She had honestly thought she'd get in trouble for the rocket. Clearly, somebody high in the PRT must like her despite the mess she made of things.
>Ding<
Roll 1--Classical sculpture.
What it says on the tin, just a bunch of classical sculpture. Now occupying all the empty corners inside the Hebert house. Disappears after one hour.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
--- weeks later---
Annette didn't hear too much about what happened afterward, but it seemed that the situation at the Protectorate headquarters was urgent enough to fast-track Emily the healer and Bradie's public debut so that they could be officially inducted into the Protectorate.
On TV the other day, Emily Bovell had been wearing a dark red Victorian nurse costume that had puffy sleeves and was wearing a frilly white pinafore apron that had a bright red cross on the chest area. On her head, she was wearing a white mask that had a red cross painted on one side of it, and a nurse's cap. She had introduced herself as Mrs.Remedy and had talked at great length about the public clinic she had set up together with both the PRT's help as well as the help of her fellow parahuman. At that smooth segue, that allowed for her to stand aside and let Bradie James introduce himself in his cape persona.
The ex-football player was wearing a white and blue spandex outfit not too dissimilar to a football uniform, although there were plenty of stylistic changes that you could tell that it was supposed to be a superhero uniform rather than a simple football uniform. It had a stylized medical cross on one side of his outfit, with blue boots and fingerless gloves. His helmet was blue as well. He introduced himself as Cobalt Quarterback or just Cobalt for short.
Here was the important part… now that Mrs.Remedy and Cobalt were unveiled to the public, this meant that Annette could finally go back to her job without raising any weird questions about how she had healed so fast.
The official cover story was that she had been one of the volunteers who had been chosen for the parahumans to test their healing on, and so now she was back to work.
A good thing, she was starting to get antsy with nothing to do in the house all day long. Danny had his work and Taylor was still in middle school, but the two of them would eventually head downstairs to the basement where they'd work together on that 3d-printer-slash-fabber machine that was supposed to create not only their armors but the robots they would eventually build too.
It was a good thing that Danny and Taylor were bonding together over this, but there were times when she did feel a little… left out.
So, back to work for her! She was in the process of lecturing the students in her literature class about the themes behind "The Taming of the Shrew", by William Shakespeare. And for once, most of them actually seemed to be listening.
"The next major theme that can be found in this work is the effect of social roles on individual Happiness. Each person in the play occupies a specific social position that carries with it certain expectations about how that person should behave. A character's social position is defined by such things as his or her wealth, age, gender, profession, parentage, and education; the rules governing how each of them should behave are harshly enforced by family, friends, and society as a whole. For instance, Lucentio occupies the social role of a wealthy young student, Tranio that of a servant, and Bianca and Katherine the roles of upper-class young maidens-in-waiting. At the very least, they are supposed to occupy these roles—but, as the play shows, in reality, Kate wants nothing to do with her social role and her shrewishness results directly from her frustration concerning her position. Because she does not live up to the behavioral expectations of her society, she faces the cold disapproval of that society, and, due to her alienation, she becomes miserably unhappy. Kate is only one of the many characters in The Taming of the Shrew who attempt to circumvent or deny their socially defined roles, however: Lucentio transforms himself into a working-class Latin tutor, Tranio transforms himself into a wealthy young aristocrat, Christopher Sly is transformed from a poor inventor into a lord, and so forth."
She was saying all of this when she suddenly felt the itch come back with a vengeance. She hadn't been using her power all day and now she was starting to pay for it.
'Ugh, right now? But I'm in the middle of a class!' Annette thought as she turned to face the blackboard behind her so that her students wouldn't see how uncomfortable she was right now.
But the itch persisted, and wouldn't let up until she pulled at it….
>Ding<
Roll 17--Minimal prime (recreational mathematics)
Annette gains a math-based thinker power that enjoys using mathematics for recreational purposes.
Whew. That actually wasn't so bad. She had been afraid of summoning something weird that would make it obvious to others that she was a parahuman, but thankfully her power seemed to be acting discrete today. And on top of it, it seemed to have given her something very useful.
She turned around to face her students with a smile on her face as she continued the lesson.
"Compared with Katherine's more serious anguish about her role, the other characters' attempts to circumvent social expectations seem like harmless fun. However, the play illustrates that….."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
--At lunch time--
"So, I can see that the rumors were true. You did get to visit Mrs. Remedy and Cobalt. What were they like?" One of her work associates asked her as they sat at lunch together.
"Well, Cobalt's thing is that he seems to cure cancer mainly, which I didn't have, so we didn't spend too much time together. Remedy's a really nice woman though if a little old fashioned. But that might be part of her shtick, you know? What with the whole Victorian nurse getup." Annette replied as she took a good bite out of the Bratwurst sandwich she was eating.
Mrs. Smithson, a dark-skinned woman who specialized in history then said, "Hmm…. I wouldn't mind meeting Cobalt myself. It's nice to see a black hero in this city… especially one that's so easy on the eyes."
There were a few giggles at this.
Miss Robin, another fellow university professor here then said, "In all seriousness though, I'm so glad you're okay. I was so shocked when I heard that you had gotten caught up in that… mess… a few weeks ago."
Annette nodded. "Yeah, me too. Apparently, there was footage of the whole…. accident. If I had driven just one foot forward instead of staying where I had been at the time, I would've probably died instantly instead of being shoved off the road. For a want of a nail. It's that kind of stuff that really makes me glad to be alive.."
She shivered slightly at this, accidentally pulling a roll.
Roll 4--Sausage making.
For the next four hours, Annette gains a thinker power that gives her detailed descriptions of how sausages are made. Any sausages that Annette holds and eats will give her detailed information on which factory it came from, which animals it was made from, and how it was made. As well as the conditions of the factory it was made in.
Annette blinked as she stared down at the bratwurst sandwich she had been eating, as she got way too much information about this bratwurst… and the decidedly un-kosher way it had been made.
Great. There went her appetite. There were times when she sincerely wished she could slap her power upside its head, and now was one of those times. Why couldn't she just eat in peace without her power doing something weird?? WHY!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The rest of the day passed in a blur, and it was then when she drove into her driveway that she noticed her neighbors.
Everyone from the two houses across the street, as well as the two houses on both sides of her home, seemed to have just gotten home from whatever it was that they were doing.
The elderly couple who lived on the right house to her own seemed to be dragging various junk out of their cars… wires, metals from ancient fridge doors, and that sort of thing.
The neighbor who lived on the left, a middle-aged single Asian man, seemed to be bringing in nothing but abandoned-looking computer towers and the like.
The two families across the street seemed to be bringing in a mixture of metal things, wires, computer parts, etc. Even the youngest kids seemed to be getting into it, as they helped their older siblings and parents carry everything into their house.
The most noticeable thing about everything they were doing though? The fact that they all were trying too hard to act like this was perfectly normal. Talking very loudly about how they just needed the parts to fix something in their houses, as if they were trying too hard to convince everyone else that they weren't up to something in what was clearly the worst case of acting ever.
Annette merely shook her head and walked into her house. It was none of her business, really.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Later that night as Annette was enjoying supper with her family, there was a loud ruckus going on outside, with a lot of shouting.
The Hebert family was curious as to what was going on, so they looked out their window to find out.
Turns out that the Merchants, Empire 88, and the Asian Bad Boyz were all here for some reason!
Annette cracked open the windows just in time to hear what they all were yelling about.
Apparently, they all had noticed signs of a new Tinker on the scene-- namely, that there had been people salvaging for useful stuff in junkyards, in pawnshops, and the like. Ever-eager to have another cape on their teams, they had come here only to be confused when there was another gang here seemingly wanting the same person they did.
Especially so because the Asian Bad Boys were looking for a middle-aged Asian tinker, the Empire 88 was looking for a white family that had a tinker, and so on forth.
The odds of different tinkers all living in the same neighborhood were so unlikely that it didn't occur to them that they were all looking for different people, and had assumed that the other gangs were here to forcibly recruit the same tinker they were looking for, or eliminate the competition.
So because of that, a fight broke out between all the three gangs.
Danny was already calling the PRT's emergency hotline, but to Annette, they couldn't get here fast enough for her tastes. There had to be something she could do…?
>Ding!<
Roll 27-- Clarence Birdseye. Clarence Frank Birdseye II (December 9, 1886 – October 7, 1956) was an American inventor, entrepreneur, and naturalist and is considered to be the founder of the modern frozen food industry.
He was a normal guy before, but now he becomes like Dr. Freeze-- an ice-based tinker. With a minor sub-power of food tinkering.
Annette sighed loudly when her power summoned yet another confused-looking notable person from history.
She needed somebody who was ALREADY a cape, not somebody who didn't even have tinker tech to start with!
She told the man, who was called Clarence, to stay inside this house for now as it wasn't safe outside as the police and PRT were already on their way.
The poor guy was still confused but he complied once he looked out the window and saw what was going on out there.
She pulled again, hoping to get something good…
>Ding!<
Roll 20--Olla. A large ceramic jar, often unglazed, used for cooking stews or soups, for the storage of water or dry foods, or for other purposes like the irrigation of olive trees.
Now a completely indestructible piece of cookware. Everything you store in it won't age or go bad.
Damn it! Annette set the Ceramic cookware aside and tried again.
>Ding<
Roll 30--Exploding head syndrome. Exploding head syndrome (EHS) is a condition in which a person experiences unreal noises that are loud and of short duration when falling asleep or waking up. The noise may be frightening, typically occurs only occasionally, and is not a serious health concern. People may also experience a flash of light.
Everyone that Annette regards as her enemy currently occupying the large neighborhood block radius around her house now permanently suffers from this sleeping disorder for the rest of their lives. Nothing they can do can cure it or alleviate it.
Hmmm…. Annette would've liked for their heads to actually explode, which would've made things so much easier.
But, making it so that they had a difficult time sleeping was a nice consolation prize, she supposed. Villains shouldn't be able to sleep comfortably after all the lives they ruined over the course of their lives, after all.
>Ding<
Roll 3-- Here We Go (Steelers song)
People in the local area become highly proficient at sports for the next three hours.
>Ding<
Roll 22--Big Fight: Big Trouble in the Atlantic Ocean. Big Fight (ビッグファイト), fully titled as Big Fight: Big Trouble in the Atlantic Ocean, is a 1992 fighting game/belt scrolling beat 'em up-hybrid arcade game developed and published by Tatsumi and is one of their last arcade games before focusing on novelty sticker printing business.
Summons the entire cast of fighting heroes (and redeemed ex-bosses) from the game. Their health and bodies become enhanced to the point of gaining a minor brute rating. they all gain a combat-based thinker power, and they all keep their power-up special moves like in the game.
"The hell?" Clarence startled when a group of rough-looking people appeared out of nowhere.
Taylor hid behind her mother, just in case.
Annette, on the other hand, was grinning. Now, this was more like it… she could already tell that they were a group of capes already experienced with fighting.
"Help me, please!" She called out before the large group could even react, "I've summoned you all here to help me deal with those horrible gangs out there until the PRT officials arrive. Don't attack the PRT officials or the heroes with the protectorate, they're the good guys. Can you do this for me, please?"
There were eight of them in total, and none of them didn't even seem to blink at being summoned to a strange place and then being asked to fight. For some reason, it was as if they were completely used to this.
They complied with her request wordlessly, merely nodding at her, then walking out of the house, and immediately taking on all the enemies they saw outside.
...
…
..
Wow, this group was really, really good at fighting others. They were brutally laying the smackdown on every single hostile person they saw.
At this rate, they might actually be able to subdue the gangs out there before the PRT arrived. It was probably a good thing that none of the gangs' cape leaders were here though, otherwise, this could've gotten messy fast.
====================
AN: I was just going to keep on rolling until something werid and silly happened, but... well, I got a surprisingly good roll here with the "streets of rage" clone beat'em up cast. I couldn't think of a reason why Annette would keep on rolling after this, so I suppose this is a good place to stop.
Author Notes: Warning-- there's some religious debate going on between some characters near the end of the chapter. This is not intended to be an attack on anybody's beliefs, nor is this a reflection of what I actually believe. It just so happens that three characters believe in their own brand of christainity as seeing they were simply raised that way… but, they just happen to not agree on how God works. And, one of the characters is an asshole who's antisemitic, which the other characters call him out for. The asshole character is not supposed to be in the right here… and should be seen as the asshole that he is.
If you think that bit of seriousness is too much for you, feel free to skim and skip over that part.
======================================================
It was time for the PRT-Protectorate's weekly meeting, run by both Director Renick, who had taken over Piggot's position and Thomas Calvert, who was seated beside him and currently taking up Renick's old position of Deputy Director.
Emily mentally scoffed at that. It must've been such a boon for that power-hungry sleazeball, going from being a simple security consultant to Deputy Director overnight because nobody had foreseen the fact that they'd need a sudden replacement like this. She didn't know how the hell Thomas had wormed into that position himself, but the fact that he had successfully pulled that off was enough to make her lose faith in humanity if she hadn't already lost it a long time ago.
On one side of the table were the people who had been affected by Annette, no, Kismet's trump ability-- Emily herself, Miss Militia, Armsmaster, Dauntless, and the ward Vista.
On the other side were the ones who had been lucky enough to be outside of Kismet's range: Assault and Battery, Velocity, the wards Triumph, and the newest one, Gallant. And of course, both Thomas and Director Renick.
Normally the wards wouldn't be present for a meeting like this, but those were special circumstances. With half of the PRT compromised, they needed all hands on deck.
In fact, it wouldn't be much of an exaggeration to say that the past few weeks had been tiresome for them in more than one way. Everyone here looked like they needed a massive amount of coffee and more than 7 hours of sleep.
"Thomas, can you bring us up to date on what's going on in the Boat Graveyard?" Renick said tiredly.
Thomas nodded, pulled out a folder and read from it after he opened it, "Currently, The Empire's seized control of the area after the Merchants lost a good amount of their forces in the explosion.."
This was the weirdest part-- apparently, all the gangs seemed to view the possession of the rocket as something akin to being the king of the hill here… so naturally they all wanted it for themselves. More so after Lung had ordered Oni Lee to place explosives on the space rocket in order to destroy it. Apparently Lung's reasoning was that Squealer owning a rocket was too dangerous, thus he wanted it gone. That had resulted in a massive explosion that pretty much took out all the abandoned warehouses nearby, and a few of the old boats. The spread of the fire would've been terrible, but the fact that it was raining heavily that entire day had helped, and also the fact that the firemen had arrived swiftly on the scene to prevent the fire from spreading.
But here was the surprising part. The rocket just seemed to… rebuild itself afterward and was good as new as if it hadn't been blown up. That was when the gangs knew there was something very special about that rocket, and thus they had wanted it for themselves.
The other consequence of this was the fact that some of the Merchants had triggered inside that explosion, so now they had some new capes on their side. Which was just really fucking great.
The only bright side of this was, all the fighting seemed confined to the Boat Graveyard for now as every one of them played "Capture the flag", or "seize control of the rocket" in this case, as opposed to an area where civilians usually went about their daily life. Thus, there weren't as many losses of civilian life as there could've been. Losses of gang members on the other hand… but Emily honestly didn't care if a few gangbangers lost their lives. Criminal scum deserved what they got.
Also, none of the gangs had the bright idea to try to launch the rocket itself against their enemies thus far, which was a good thing as that could've shattered all windows, damaged the buildings, and deafened the local populace. There was a reason why space rockets of this size tended to be in a remote, secluded location after all.
But Emily had no doubt that it wouldn't last for long, and that the fighting would eventually spill over to more populated areas.
And when that happened, well, she hoped the PRT would be ready for them by then. Hopefully by then they'd also be able to secure the rocket and prevent the gangs from fighting over it any longer.
Emily was snapped out of her thoughts when Thomas Calvert finished up his report, shutting the folder and slapping it down on the table.
"Thank you, Calvert," Renick said, and then he turned to face Velocity. "And the latest news on all our new… parahumans?"
Velocity straightened up in his seat as he started reading from his open folder. "Some of you know this already, but it seems that the majority of the chocolate tinkers decided to form their own independent rogue group in Brockton Bay instead of joining the Protectorate once it was confirmed that their new powers were permanent and that there was no master effect. Apparently, they thought it'd be more profitable if they were to pool their resources together and start up a business making and selling chocolate. Of course, being Ex-PRT they've already agreed to follow the parahuman laws and guidelines when starting up a business like this one. And, instead of listing every individual member they had they've simply decided to call themselves 'The Chocolate Army' as a collective instead of assigning themselves a unique cape name. Already they've brought some property near the boardwalk and are in the process of repairing it so that it's ready for business."
Assault snorted. "A good thing too most likely. Can you imagine our PR division trying to come up with chocolate-related names for over 1,000 chocolate bio-tinkers if they were to join up with the Protectorate?? They'd just give up after the fifth one."
Velocity cleared his throat, and flipped next to the next page on his folder before reading out loud, "Emily Bovell, AKA Mrs. Remedy, along with Bradie James AKA Cobalt Quarterback, seem to be settling in nicely compared to the rest of our latest recruits. The 'Big Fight' gang on the other hand…"
He grimaced slightly. "While they've been mostly cooperative with us far, there's been some issues…"
"How so?" Renick frowned slightly.
"The more I and the rest of the… unaffected members… interact with them, the more we're convinced that they were the victim of a Master from back on their native Earth, or that they were lab-grown clones designed to be sent out as a small army by their governments. I honestly don't know which one is worse." The speedster said, a somewhat disturbed expression on his face.
He then listed off things that he had noticed thus far with them: "Number one-- They only seem to know and remember their own names, their blood types and vague details about their backgrounds. They don't remember having ever had parents, any family or anything else like that. Number Two--they all seem to have a fanatical obsession with fighting in general. They're often constantly asking when they're going to be sent out to take down gangs next when they're not eating or resting. When asked why they wanted to go out and fight so badly, they simply said that this was what they were made for, in extremely broken English. That's the third thing-- the fact that they don't seem to have a very good grasp on English, or any other language. They don't seem to understand basic social cues or anything else… which they would've known had they grown up in society like a normal person."
He then shuddered. "And then there were the sparring incidents… they don't seem to fully understand that a friendly spar means that you hold back from killing the person. When pitting them against each other, which they had no qualms with, they seemed intent on severely injuring each other much as they could and didn't seem all that worried that one of them could die. They were simply more concerned with winning the match at all costs, even if it meant that one of them died. When I tried to explain to them about the concept of sparring without seriously wounding anybody…. Well, the idea seems foreign to them. They brought up the fact that they could easily be just brought back with 'extra lives' by the higher ups, and they seemed baffled when they were told that they most likely weren't going to get anything like that here on Earth Bet. That you only ever got one life here. Um, I don't think they fully understand death as normal people would normally experience it, and why we wanted to avoid that at all costs."
There was a long moment of silence at this as everyone else digested that. Indeed, it did seem disturbing that on some earth in the multi-verse, there would be some government who had no qualms with cloning and creating an army of parahumans that would fight for them. And conditioning them so effectively that they were only ever obsessed with fighting in general, as if that was the only thing that mattered.
Miss Militia seemed the most disturbed out of everyone here over this revelation, due to the fact that she had grown up as a child soldier before finally arriving in America and joining the Protectorate. She didn't like the idea of anybody being conscripted to fight against their will, even if they were human clones to start with. Newly formed clones who didn't know much about the world at all were like children in that they couldn't possibly consent to being soldiers, and especially if they were brainwashed into it.
Renick sighed. "So in other words, they need a large amount of therapy and social conditioning before we can even rebrand them and reveal them to the public? That's just great."
Battery then said. "On the bright side… Anne--Err, Kismet's neighbors that she empowered with her trump ability? After the gangs came to recruit them, they were so shaken up by the possibility that they hadn't been as discrete as they thought they had been, to the point that the gangs could find them easily. As a result, most of them promptly signed up with the Protectorate for protection from the gangs. Soon, we'll be announcing a lot of tinkers on our team for Brockton Bay. In fact, we might now hold the record for the largest collection of tinkers on one team outside of Toybox."
ArmsMaster looked interested in this. "You said most of them… not all of them?"
Assault then added, "The rest that didn't want to join us apparently found out that it had been Annette who empowered them in the first place, and because of this they decided they would rather join her team. They also said something about neighbors sticking together… It was mostly just the old couple and that single Asian man who wanted to join them. The ones with families and kids of their own wasn't sure if Annette would be able to keep their kids safe. They thought that if they put their kids in the wards program while they themselves joined the Protectorate, that would provide more protection from the gangs overall."
ArmsMaster nodded. "Makes sense."
Velocity then said, "We're still dealing with the issue of the few chocolate bio-tinkers who choose to keep on working with us, just on the Protectorate side of things. Most of them took the chance to transfer out and work elsewhere… so the PR team and some of the other Protectorate teams are working on getting them situated in other cities. So that leaves us with Emily Piggot here."
Turning to face Emily, he then asked, "You haven't told us yet whenever you wanted to debut as a public Protectorate hero or not. You haven't asked us for a workshop of your own to use your powers in yet."
Emily Piggot twitched angrily at this. "I'm not going to use this… power… of mine at all. I refuse to! I'd rather just do the paperwork for the rest of the Protectorate and stay on as an unknown member."
The other Protectorate heroes stared at her, and Miss Militia replied in a worried tone of voice, "You can't just not use your powers. Studies show that it's bad for your health to keep on ignoring that you have powers. That's led to mental breakdowns and depression."
The woman harrumphed. "Better than embracing the fact that I'm… a bio-tinker!"
She spat the last word out like it was a curse word.
"I don't know what the big deal is. It's just chocolate… it's not like you can make anything dangerous with chocolate. I've already tried it out and grew a tree that gives me those sweet chocolate beans that become nutty and crunchy when you grill them. The fruit from the chocolate tree is also pretty nice," Vista replied as she held up a bag full of what seemed like burnt chocolate beans and dried fruit. She then reached inside and popped a few into her mouth.
There were audible crunching noises coming from her as she chewed on them, and she then said, "They make for a very delicious snack."
Emily grumbled slightly at this.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the building, almost all of the people that Annette had summoned thus far were having something akin to a meeting today as well. Although it was more like a club-slash-support group meeting rather than the serious one the other Protectorate members were having.
Bradie was shaking his head as he said, "I seriously can't believe that every one of you actually remember living your whole life and then dying. Am I the only one who didn't die??"
Sir Harold Alfred MacMichael then smirked slightly. "How do you know you didn't die? Maybe your death was so traumatic and horrific that your memory of it was blocked or altered in order to avoid traumatizing you. Maybe you died in a grisly accident..."
The black ex-football player grimaced at that. "That's a horrifying thought.."
Emily Bovell brought over the tray of chocolate cookies and hot cocoa she had made from fresh cocoa beans and other resources, and sat down at the table as she placed the tray in the center of the table so that everyone could reach them and indulge themselves if they desired.
"Now, now, don't needle Mr.James, Sir MacMicheal. I know you're upset about your situation, but that's no reason to take it out on the rest of us." Emily, also known as Mrs. Remedy, scolded him.
"That's just it!" the British man snapped, "I don't know how the hell the rest of you can be so calm, when that…. Witch… pulled us away and denied our just rewards in the afterlife! I expected that when I died, I'd be in front of the pearly gates. Not stuck in some forsaken Yankee city on another Earth!"
Bradie snorted loudly. "You honestly thought you were going to heaven?"
Spoiler: Cue ethical debate on whenever God would let murderers into heaven or not. Characters are being nasty to each other here, so if you're uncomfortable with this type of scene, skip this.Sir Harold MacMicheal raised one eyebrow naughtily at the dark-skinned man. "And what is that supposed to mean, pray tell?"
Bradie simply shrugged at this before leaning back in his seat. "I did some reading on you… I did this for everyone here, actually. But what caught my eye about your history, was the fact that you were responsible for a lot of people's deaths… and not just the ones you killed during wartime. When it's wartime, things like that tend to be fair game as it's mostly self-defense, yeah? But, you purposely lent a bunch of war-stricken refugees a faulty and dangerous boat, knowing well that it'd endanger their lives. Sure enough, that boat ended up killing up to four hundred innocent people. And from what I read, you didn't exactly feel too badly about that… I don't know about you, but on my earth back home, it was believed that remorseless murderers don't get into heaven."
"My word!" Emily gasped at this latest revelation about Sir Harold's past, while the rest of the other people just sat there confusedly, as they hadn't gotten a good grasp on English just yet.
The Chinese man, Jiao Yulu, only knew a few words of English at this point so he just kept on looking between all the people at the table, trying to figure out what was going on. He did, however, take some of the cookies from the tray along with a mug of hot cocoa.
At least the Babylonian Rabbi seemed to be calmer, now that he was fluent in both German and Turkish, which many other people now spoke. Having other people around who he could understand helped in acclimating him to this strange new place he found himself in. and his given name was Mar Son Abgal, which Emily found to be a strange name for a man… but it made sense when he explained to her that some of it was actually more of a formal title rather than a true name. However, the Rabbi didn't know much modern English either… seeing he only spoke what was Aramaic and ancient greek as his original languages.
Harold MacMicheal exploded in anger at the sheer audacity that this man had, telling him what to believe when it came to his own religion. "I don't know how it works where you come from, but in my world, all it took to get into heaven was accepting Jesus Christ into your heart!"
Bradie made a face at this. "So, every sin you ever committed doesn't even matter at all, because heaven just lets in anybody who believes in Jesus? So a child rapist and murderer can and will go to the same heaven that his victims go to…? I wonder how the poor children that he sexually assaulted and murdered feel about that…? Sorry, but that doesn't seem like your version of God believes in justice and fairness. Emily, what do you think?"
Emily Bovell squirmed slightly in her seat, uncomfortable with where this debate was going. But she said all the same, "Well, I do agree that one needs to accept Jesus into their hearts in order to go to a specific form of heaven. But, I certainly can understand why Mr. James here objects to the idea that it's the only requirement to get into heaven. There's certainly a lot of hoodlums out there who need to repent for everything that they've done before they can get into heaven. There needs to be true repentance and regret in their hearts before they can be fully forgiven by both God and their victims, I think. Otherwise, it wouldn't be fair to all the innocent victims who had their lives taken away before it was time for them to leave. How can it be called heaven if both the victims and the murderer who killed them all have to share the same space together without having forgiven each other first?"
Bradie nodded at this. "Thank you, Emily. I agree with that."
Sir Harold scoffed slightly. "As if those Jews would ever share the same heavenly space with me! Their people helped kill Jesus Christ, I cannot fathom the idea that God would forgive them so easily for that."
Bradie raised eyebrows at that. "Ah, there it is. You don't think God would let the Jewish people into heaven… even though Jesus Christ himself was Jewish too at the time? Also, you don't seem to regard them as people to the point that you don't even feel bad about having killed Jewish refugees who had nothing to do with the wars you were in at the time. And you wonder why I doubt the fact that you were destined for heaven from the get-go?"
The British man huffed angrily as he got up from his seat and stomped out of there.
Bradie shook his head, and muttered under his breath, "Asshole."
Emily said nothing and nervously sipped from her drink. She really didn't do well in tense situations like that at all.
<" What's going on?"> Mar asked, sounding somewhat mystified by the entire exchange.
Bradie and Emily looked at each other, before explaining what just happened to the rabbi in both Turkish and German.
<" We were debating whenever one could get into heaven just by merely accepting God or if one needed to be judged for their sins first before they could even get in…"> Emily started…
The Rabbi listened with great interest, seeing this was a subject that he liked very much to think about. But then he grew distressed the more Bradie started explaining to him about the historical mistreatment of Jewish people and how Sir Harold had intentionally given Jewish refugees a faulty boat that led to their deaths.
He blinked, his eyes becoming moist at the thought of there being so many deaths.
He then said in German, <<" That's a pity. Back in my time, my people had to deal with the Romans slandering us and discriminating against us. Many of us died, even going as far to be crucified at their hands. It got worse when other countries started to discriminate against us as well. I had hoped that things would get better for our people, that this kind of trouble would pass us by with enough time.">>
He drank his hot chocolate and then said, <<"It's very disheartening to learn this wasn't so. That our problems only got worse with time instead.">>
Bradie nodded solemnly before responding back in German. << "Yeah, Sorry about that. If it helps, your people also had many allies who disavowed the cruel treatment of Jewish people throughout history? One of the world wars was about that actually.">>
Mar just smiled sadly at this. <<" there is that, I suppose. With the bad, there comes along some good things, as well. I just wish there were more good things than the bad, is all." >>
Jiao Yulu still had no idea what was going on here, so he just sat there eating as many cookies as he could along with his mug of hot chocolate… because the cookies were delicious and that's all he was here for, really. Unlike the others, he hadn't been affected by the effect that gave people the ability to speak two other languages. Unfortunately. Otherwise, he'd be able to pitch in his own opinion on that subject itself.