#but he would go crazy if someone so much as showed him the electron slit I just know it

[journeysintowebcomics]

Worm Liveblog #115

UPDATE 115: The Simurgh Shows Off

A bit of a short Worm update today.

Last time the Travelers were introduced as a group of friends who play games together in a professional level. It was all nice and dandy until the Simurgh attacked, even Noelle was okay. This obviously is in the past, and I think it’s before they all got their powers, and I’m kind of expecting them all to get their powers from the trauma of being where the Simurgh attacks. So let’s continue and see if I’m right!

Running on a slippery concrete surface is not easy, and it’s even less easy when you’re running from something that could turn its attention at you at any moment and, I don’t know, vaporize you with her voice. It’s even harder for someone who is carrying somebody else, such as Luke, who is carrying Noelle along. They have to go, avoiding the windows and any other traps the building has. Hm...in theory avoiding the windows doesn’t sound like a difficult thing to do, really, unless this building has the most haphazardly-placed windows in the history of architecture or the ice’s making them slip around like crazy. Run in a straight line, that should be enough most of the time.

It’s when they’re getting to the parts of the building that are already crumbling – the base, I imagine – that dodging the windows is more difficult, due to the crumbling outer walls.

“Fuck!”  Luke shouted.  “Fuck, fuck me!”

Third time isn’t a charm for you, Krouse thought.  Luke had put his leg through a window and his leg was slit open from the base of his foot to his knee.

Oh, damn, that’s nasty, and something to worry about. If you get a nerve of an artery, or even a vein sometimes, sliced, you’re doomed. Thank goodness there’s not much description, although that doesn’t make it any better. I can’t avoid thinking of some rather ugly scenarios.

Oh, yeah, I almost forgot to comment, Scion is here. You know, for someone who is a complete mystery and also the epitome of being a parahuman hero, he sure features much less in the story than I expected. Scion must be doing something right, anyway, since he’s forcing the Simurgh to retreat from the area.

Luke’s injury is a bit of a mystery, they don’t know how bad it is, and he still can move his leg well. In that case, it may not be too deep if the muscle isn’t very compromised. Lucky guy, Lucky Luke. Not in condition to carry Noelle, though, so Francis does it. He also shows why he’s the leader of the Travelers while Noelle is not okay, as he takes the leadership and gets Marissa to lead the way, looking for the safer places.

There are still things to worry about, though. The Simurgh is closer than they thought.

Telekinesis.  She’d created a false image of herself out of snow and ice, baiting Scion away.  Judging by the sound of Scion’s continued onslaught, she was still controlling it. Controlling it even though there was no way she could see what it was doing by eyesight alone.

The Simurgh’s skin is primarily white, gray and transparent, or she’s able to mimic colors somehow. Or maybe the copy is floating around while using the white and platinum hair to cover the skin. She sure would have enough wing and hair to do that. So while Scion is over there, fighting the copy, that’ll give the Simurgh the freedom to cause havoc over here, too close to the Travelers.

She’s doing something over there...gathering a lot of electronics. Is she trying to make another copy of herself, this time using electronics? She’s even connecting some. It’s odd. No time to worry much about it, though, they still have to run away, somehow get off the building and onto the ground.

Turns out descending the building may be an impossible task, due to the slipperiness of the outside of the building. Their only option is to go inside and search for another way, although it may be dangerous. There could be a fire or a gas leak – reasonable fears in this situation. But out here, there’s the Simurgh, there’s the cold...just because the Simurgh is out here I sure know what I’d pick. If I could, I’d try to ensure I’d be able to get out again if necessary, but such a thing may be impossible to do. There’s nothing on the outside.

This flashbacks must be happening very long ago, because the Endbringers weren’t household names to recoil from. Only Jess seems to know about them, and she explain the circumstances of the Simurgh’s debut.

“The idea was maybe she and Scion met some specific set of conditions.  So the whole world watched for something like three days, to see if she would be another Scion, or if she’d be something else.   People approached, she even communicated with them some.  Not talking, just gestures, I guess.  Interacting might be a better word.  And when we thought things would be okay, she made a move.  The entire population of the city around her, with all the people who had come to talk with her and research her…”

Huh, where does Scion come from, anyway? Maybe he can be classified as an Endbringer, in terms of...what he is. Just that instead of going around destroying everything, he’s a hero. The world back then got pretty lucky the very first parahuman-related person decided to use the powers for good.

The conversation stops when heroes finally come to deal with that enormous problem – the Simurgh must be much stealthier than Leviathan was, if she managed to get here and start destroying before the heroes even got word from it. Just like it happened with the Leviathan fight, the heroes are immediately at a disadvantage, because the Simurgh seems to have sensed them coming, and already prepared to defend herself, killing one of them almost immediately. Perhaps the thing she’s assembling with electronics is part of her defensive strategy? I think so, because the other hero here aims at it.

Time to go inside. Apparently Noelle is quite the catch, as Cody had also tried to woo her and was unsuccessful. Wow, it’s like Francis has triumphed in everything Cody didn’t. No wonder Cody is so goddamn upset.

Getting out of the apartment is easy enough, breaking into another below is harder, as they have to kick the door open.

“It keeps getting worse.  The music,” Marissa complained.  “It’s like it’s stretching between three notes, and the moment I think there’s a pattern to it, it changes.”

Krouse glanced at Jess.  What does she know?  To Marissa he said, “It gets worse if you pay attention to it.  Focus on what you’re doing.  Distract yourself if you have to.”

What’s up with the music? It’s been noted to be changing, adding one note at a time. Is it perhaps a warning to those around? Like, the moment she reaches a certain number of notes, everything will be over? The part about how the song is changing is really making me concerned.

Soon they manage to get inside, ready to keep exploring. At least one person seems to have died in this apartment. Doesn’t matter, because they escape rather easily onto the ground from here. Okay, this went smoothly! Now it’s a matter of running away from where the Simurgh is.

Up there, the Simurgh has progressed, making a circle with her electronics. Like a frisbee? It’s still the heroes’ target, they keep trying and failing to destroy it. During one of the attempts, the hero that uses bubbles of force fields to fight gets struck down and thrown aside, near where the Travelers are, and gets impaled. Ouch.

Wow, for someone who got impaled he sure refuses to accept he’s down. Okay, hopefully this isn’t deadly. He sees the Travelers and tell them to leave or they’re as good as dead. During all that, a device he has tells him it’s too late even if he leaves now.

“I’ll let your wife know you fought bravely.  Do you want me to keep a recording for your son, for when he’s older?”

“Dragon!  Damn you!”

Oh heeeey, there’s Dragon! How nice to see a familiar hero face. This hero, Grandiose he’s called, isn’t as happy, and I’m sure he’s even less happy when the device starts beeping. Is this...normal? I mean, I’m pretty sure this means the device is going to explode, but it doesn’t seem like normal Endbringer protocol. Maybe the Simurgh does something with the dead bodies, since this one was about to die.

There’s Alexandria! This must be some time after she got her powers from Cauldron, then. The Simurgh fights, throwing her around, and luckily for Alexandria, she’s certain to survive this fight, what with being alive in the present. There’s nothing any of them can do about the Simurgh and her invention, as she finally rises and moves.

“That explosion,” Luke was saying, panting as he ran with a lopsided gait.  “They blew up their own person.  Why?”

“Because he’d been here too long,” Krouse said.

...I’m not sure what this means. Does it mean that, if you’re in the area where the Simurgh is for too long, you have to die? If the Travelers here are found, will they also be killed? Because I’m pretty sure they have been in the area near the Simurgh for much longer than the hero was. Of course they had to travel around, they had to put as much distance between this city and them, so they don’t die.

Somehow, the Simurgh manages to activate the device she made, a strange donut-shaped thing the heroes are desperate to destroy, so much they forgo the precautions of being near her for too long. The song seems to be the big issue. In that case, yeah, the Travelers are as good as dead if they’re seen. Apparently by now the song they’re hearing has six sounds.

They’re so lucky they already escaped the building, it’s torn apart. If they had still been on it or inside...

The donut the Simurgh made is activated, and its effects soon are seen despite the heroes’ best effort. It’s not a destructive device like I expected, it doesn’t make the city explode or anything. Instead, the Simurgh raises it high, and the device makes things appear. It’s a gate, a portal. And people are falling through it, alongside the debris. Oh, goodness, I didn’t think an Endbringer could do something like building portals.

“How the fuck is she not a tinker!?” Krouse shouted.

“She isn’t!” Jess called back.  “She’s never done anything like this before!”

Perhaps it gained this particular skill at some point? As if the Endbringers weren’t scary enough, this one here maybe learned tinker abilities. Nothing like a dangerous thing turning even more dangerous.

Oh, nevermind, those aren’t people, those are monsters, monsters that proceed to roam around and eat each other. Oh hey, what if the Endbringers come from another dimension, and these monsters come from that same dimension? It’s not too farfetched, given what’s going on right now! That there’s ruined architecture is not a good thing, though. It paints quite the grim picture of...whatever place she’s bringing all this from.

Even though Scion breaks the device, the portal doesn’t disappear, it continues pouring so many things. It takes Scion charging and channeling his power to start closing it, but that’s not going to be the end of this. Creatures already passed through and fell everywhere, those will have to be dealt with one by one. Seems to me the heroes are going to do cleanup for quite a while!

The Simurgh’s movement was slowed in the wake of the light, and Scion took the opportunity to land one well placed shot.  She was driven into the ground like a nail from a nailgun, somewhere Krouse couldn’t see.

I remember it was said Leviathan was incredibly dense and only got denser after the outer layers. Perhaps the Simurgh is the same? Still, punching an Endbringer is impressive. Way to go, Scion.

More running. They desperately need a hospital, and none of them know where they are right now. Luke suggests the Simurgh threw the building, Jess says that’s not possible because then it’d all have been shattered. I agree with her, I’m still kind of baffled the building just turned ninety degrees in the blink of an eye. If it had been tossed, I’m pretty sure they’d all have noticed something was wrong, and then they’d all have died.

They crossed paths with another monster.  A man, pale, with a head twice as large as his torso.  His arms and legs were atrophied, and he crawled, dragging his head along the pavement.  It looked as though he’d sustained some damage in being flung halfway across the city, his head was nearly caved in at the top, a bloody ruin with fragments of skull sticking out.

“Help me,” the thing pleaded.  He reached out with one emaciated hand.

“How?” Marissa asked.

“Mars!”  Krouse shouted, “No stalling!”

She ignored him.  “How can we help?”

“Give me your memories,” the monster said.  Marissa backed away a few steps in alarm.  “Give them!  I want to dream again!  I haven’t dreamed in so long!”

Oh my god. This is no out of nowhere and unfitting with everything, honestly. Suddenly, this that seems to come straight out from a horror tale is here. Okay!

The song they’re hearing in their heads is getting weaker, so either Scion is managing to injure or distract the Simurgh enough to make her stop the song, or they’re almost our of her range. Both would be great! The great news last...like two seconds before they encounter once another obstacle, and one I can’t say I saw coming.

In the distance, on the far side of a park, there were squads of men and women in army fatigues, with jeeps and other army vehicles helping to add presence to the already formidable line of defense.  Each of the soldiers was aiming a gun at the fence.

Krouse flinched as a howl sounded, closer than the ones before.  Caught between a rock and a hard place.  Not to mention Noelle’s condition, or even Luke’s.  He winced at the noise in his head.  It was quieter, but his stress here, his alarm and confusion, it was making the screaming spike to a brutally high pitch.

“Step away from the fence!”  The voice sounded over a loudspeaker, gruff, authoritarian.  “This area is under quarantine!  Seek shelter and wait for further instructions!  If you approach or touch the fence, you will be shot!”

Alright! Everything is quarantined. Hm...the silver lining is that this should mean anything the Simurgh brought will be stopped, and nobody has to worry about those anymore. I hope so, at least. The bad news is that, if there’s a quarantine, then Noelle and Luke won’t get the medical attention they need. Even though they say to await further instructions, this doesn’t seem very good, since...that Grandiose hero from before got killed because he had been in the presence of the Simurgh’s song for too long.

I’m aware the Travelers will survive, so...what if what happens is that they’re all taken away, to be dealt with? And everybody except Cody manage to escape. No signs of any powers yet, and seems to me like the circumstances that can lead to a trigger event are still around. All in all, I keep wondering what’ll happen next. Alright! But that’ll have to be for next time.

Next time: in five updates

[uniqueanjol]

Signs of Wolves: The Invite

Perspective- Layah

When we got the invite it was honestly like any other day. I know it was the 18th because, well that's when the invites are sent out every year. I never thought we would get one. But... every year I would hope secretly that we would. This event, this moment changes people's lives I don't know how or why, but it does. I never wanted it for myself. I wanted it for Ceia. For years she's acted out, done crazy things. I can deal with crazy, but it's not crazy I had the issue with. She would do things year after year getting more and more reckless, hoping and wanting to die or get locked up.year after year I stop her from it. I love her, she's my best friend. I thought when we got a place together she would be happier, she was for a while. Then, disaster hit and she spiraled and got worse than ever.

The day of the invite we had both gotten off work, as normal I was home later than she was and she had cleaned the house and got my work cloths out for the morning. So I assumed she had been home for about two hours, I was so happy to see her. She looked at me and smiled, but I knew. I knew something was up. Her dark hair fell over her eyes when she looked at me and I could see the struggle in her smile. She was wearing long sleeves, that means she had slit her wrists. She's been happy lately, that means she did something stupid. " how was work" I asked as she walked to the fridge to grab a beer. " honestly not bad today" she replied, I could smell the beer that was already on her breath she had been drinking before. I'm like, a F.BI. agent I notice things, and just put them together like a puzzle. She wasn't talking to I decided that maybe it wasn't too bad. Whatever it was. I could tell she was still sad.

I wanted to bring up the date, but, I knew she wouldn't care so I continued with our conversation. Eventually I got a Smirnoff, and asked if she wanted pizza and she said yes. I figure we both had the night off, so why not enjoy the night while we could. I quickly grabbed the Aux while she ordered the pizza. We both have different taste in music and if she got it first we would be listing to someone screaming about daddy issues. So instead I played songs we grew up on and BOTH like. I could feel the energy build between us as the alcohol set in and she knew I wasn't mad at her. I played what's my age again by blink 182 and she jumped on the couch and sang to a crowed that didn't exist as I moved my hips and ate my pizza. Then I played 1985 by BFS and she fell dramatically on the couch. I sang, to her and she sang to me when we messed up the lyrics we laughed and we both started to dance.. I enjoy our moments like this so much, coming home and having someone to vent to and care and just have fun with. It's priceless. It's these... these...

Then I saw it. Threw our curtains near the front door. Whatever she did early today caught up to her. "Ceia, get down" I say trying not to yell. I can't tell if I'm mad or just worried at this point. Breath layah, I think to myself. You've done this a thousand times before. I lol down at my chest; thank God I didn't change into my pajamas. I walk to the front door and turn off the music. I do a quick glance to make sure Ceia is gone. I tug down my shirt just a bit to show the girls and open the door. "Hello officer and who do I owe this visit too?" I bet my eyes hoping to get a response. He looks at me, glancing at my body, his eyes follow the curves and then licks eyes with me. I do a quick glance back at him, he's nothing much to look at but I have to play it off.

"Uh..uhm," he chocked just a bit on his words then trys to keep his composure. " we have word you might know a Ceianita, zoeman?" I look down, and squint my eyes. Putting my arms underneath my chest to raise them just a bit, then letting my breast drop as I place my hand on my chin. "No, I don't think I do, I think I've heard her name once or twice at the bar down the street, but, that's it. Why?" I ask him with a confused look on my face, I'm sure to use my innocent voice. He sighs, "well she assaulted two gentlemen at the bar you were talking about." Sounds like her I think to myself then I ask, " assault? What did she do to two grown men!". I'm honestly just curious at this point.

He then shakes his head at me, I'm not aloud to give that information out miss."

You think you can't tell me that information, I smirk to myself in my own mind. Then place my fingers on his chest doing a walking type motion to his neck. " but, officer" I smile, " I'm so curious, what if she becomes a danger to me? I want to know what she capable of... please?" I ask while I bat, my eyes.

I could see him sweat, "uhm." He takes a deep breath then looks back at me, " it's honestly impressive, she was groped by a gentleman and took her beer, finished it. Than, smashed his beer on his head, when his friend tried to jump in, she then held the smashed bottle to his throat. She left before police could arrive."

My blood boiled, I was so mad I could have just scrame right then and their. I smiled at the officer and with all my kindness asked him to leave. Once I closed the door I felt the rage boil in my chest. I then smashed my fist into the door. " why" I muttered under my breath doing all I could not to scream.

I turn and walk down the hallway to tell her the coast is clear. Every step is like I'm stepping on hit cohals. "Duuuuudde" I say as I swung open the door that leads to her room. She had just got to her feet and I looked down at her. I wanted her to know I was mad. She needed to know I can't do this much longer, she's going to get killed one day. Her brown doe eyes look up at me as I skolded her. " what were you thinking!" I scram as she looked down. I felt so bad for going off on her I don't even remember what I said.

Then, in the heat of the moment the door bell rang. My heart sank and I told her to stay. I walk down the hallway thinking to myself. What if he came back? What if this is it? What if that's the last thing I told her? What did I even say? I shake the feeling because inhale to keep myself together. Before I open the door Iglance out the wondow.. no one's there. I hesitate and begin to open the door, I can feel my palms sweating as I turn the knob.

Opening the door I take on the cool breeze of October. No one's there. I look around the yard, nothing. Then I look down and all the feeling in my body gave. I dropped to my knees, it felt like I couldn't breath. This is our chance... I can't control myself, all the rage, the boiling anger subsided and turned into happiness. I felt the weight of the world had just been lifted off me. I took in a deep breath and scram a scream of relief as I held the two golden envelops In my hands. Chosen, is the word that laced the front, my name was written in the upper corner and hers on the second. My mind went blank. I could feel her reach over me to grab the one with her name. I started at the envelope as thoughts of the people who were chosen before us all lived better lives after this moment... I shake off the shock and open it. A little letter popped out and it read.

This is an initiation the annual party hosted by Mr. B. This is a once in a life time opportunity and all who have received this invitation where chosen for a reason. This, is a special year. You cannot reject this invitation and will be given a specific set of instruction and rules. Anyone who rejects, or choses to disobey rules will be executed.

-Do not tell

- No electronics

-All social media must be deactivated the 23rd at 12am. No explanation posts.

On the 24th at 1:30pm a black car will pull into your driveway. You are to already be outside. You will pack for approximately three days be sure to bring casual and formal clothing. For the first night dress your best. You are not to call out to work, they are already aware of your absence. Do not call to double check. You will not tell friends or family of your absence. Silence is the key. Also your name is irrelevant here, take that however you wish.

P.s. it's a party, so have fun.

I read the words over and over. This can't be real, I think... it can't be. The. I hear "we have a little less than a week" Ceia, I know analyzing every word... it is real... This is our chance. My heart burned with relief and hope.. the last thing I remember is hugging Ceia. I remember because that's when I knew she was willing to change... our lives could change.