Mistworm (Worm|Mistborn)

[Miri]

If Taylor doesn't want to join the Wards for her usual reasons (cape powered teenage drama and or she doesn't think her dad could handle it) then she can deny being a cape and maybe get away with it. The PRT is going to look into the evidence of the assault and see things not add up and start to question what is going on.

If Taylor does decide to join up (before she learns that Sophia is Shadow Stalker) then she can explain her side of the story. The PRT will see that what she said matches the evidence of the scene and start asking Sophia tough questions.

Either way the author takes this only lasts as long as it takes Miss Militia to start asking questions. With a hopefully half way decent lawyer who is actually on her side and NOT a good damn Coil interrupt will make sure that Taylor gives a complete answer.

I do have to wonder what is going on in the background with Danny though. Taylor is a minor with no criminal record but with a possible active police investigation on what happened to her (even if it isn't active it will come up if they run her name through BBPD databases.) This has to have Miss Militia and Armsmaster wondering what the hell is going on.

 

[Erukk]

If there is any such vetting system then Chariot never would have gotten through that process in canon.

Click to shrink...

The PRT knew he was a mole from Coil since the beginning. His gear was too advanced for him not to be getting a bunch of outside money. Him being black instantly eliminated the E88 and the ABB, and the Merchants were too poor to fund the type of gear he had and was maintaining. That basically only left Coil, since he was the only one left that could afford to outfit even his regular mooks with tinker tech weapons, and they only allowed him to join the Wards in the false hope that they could feed Coil bad information.

 

[Lightwavers]

The PRT knew he was a mole from Coil since the beginning. His gear was too advanced for him not to be getting a bunch of outside money. Him being black instantly eliminated the E88 and the ABB, and the Merchants were too poor to fund the type of gear he had and was maintaining. That basically only left Coil, since he was the only one left that could afford to outfit even his regular mooks with tinker tech weapons, and they only allowed him to join the Wards in the false hope that they could feed Coil bad information.

Click to shrink...

Thank you, I must have forgotten this. Was there any mention that a Thinker was used to investigate him?

 

[Lightwavers]

They had a lawyer on-site, and the talk was swift and perfunctory. Apparently I wasn’t being charged for any crime yet, so I just had to settle down and wait until I was. The PRT was allowed to detain people for a week without cause because of a precedent where it was needed to resolve a Master/Stranger situation. After that I was left to twiddle my thumbs again. I spent the time trying to store more than eighty percent of my speed, and when someone finally came for me I felt that I’d succeeded somewhat in my goal. The agents wore reflective visors that revealed nothing, and I knew that they were receiving video feed of what they saw to thwart any Strangers.


“Where are we going?”


The voice came out digitally distorted. “The director wishes to speak with you. You can decline if you want.”


Yeah, I could decline, and then I’d be stuck in a cell until I died of old age.


They didn’t even put me in handcuffs, only asking that I promise not to escape. I might’ve thought they were being too trusting toward someone who was supposed to have brutally beaten someone to within an inch of his life, but those foam sprayers on the ceiling weren’t as hidden as they could be. I got the sense that they were watching me, in the little twitches in the way they moved that seemed as if they were making sure they always had the optimal angle to capture me.


I shook my head. I was being paranoid. A door hissed open, and one of the two PRT agents went inside while the other stayed next to me. They weren’t carrying foam sprayers, instead displaying holstered pistols against their sides and large rifles across their backs. I hoped they were loaded with rubber bullets.


“Send her in already,” came an irritable voice from inside the room.


I took that as an invitation and walked in, the other PRT agent trailing behind me. A squat woman sat across a large, solid desk. A simple plaque had Director Piggot written on it. I couldn’t help but think that the name fit her. She scowled at the faceless agents and pointed at the door.


“Out. I can’t have a civil conversation with you two looming over her.”


The one who’d entered first hesitated and looked at me, then back at the director. “Ma’am—”


“I said out. If she kills me, you’ll just have to deal with Rennick from now on.”


For some reason, I didn’t feel any more comfortable after they left. I slowly took the seat in front of the desk, Piggot glaring at me with steel-gray eyes the entire time. It felt like I was in front of the kind of person Sophia pretended to be, above it all and unafraid of anything that could happen to her. I had the feeling that if I threatened to torture her she’d laugh and tell me to go ahead. I resorted to storing steel to make time go by faster, and as a result almost missed the first thing she said.


“—has come to light. If it turns out you’re innocent, you’ll be given a full public apology and a small settlement as reparations. Now, until the investigation is over you’ll be watched, but you’re not currently being detained.”


The words came out before I could stop them. “Oh, so I assume the containment foam, steel doors blocking the way out, and all the guys with guns are just for show, then.”


She grimaced. “You’ve had a traumatic experience. I understand that you’re upset, and the person responsible for your imprisonment will be held accountable. Your—”


“Who was it?”


She stopped talking and her expression transformed into a heavy frown. Her speech was slower now, more clipped and precise. “I understand that you’re upset. That I’m talking to you at all is a show of good faith. I could order you released right now, with no explanation whatsoever until the situation is resolved.”


I lowered my gaze. My silence seemed to have satisfied her, and she spoke again after a moment.


“Now, if you think someone has a vendetta against you, especially if he or she has connected your powers to a civilian identity, you can provide a name and we will bring them in to sign an NDA about your identity.”


“Oh, I know who it is. Emma, Sophia, and Madison. It’s always them. Nothing happens, nothing will ever happen. I don’t know why I’m bothering. When they saw me use my powers I thought they didn’t notice anything at first, thought they were just surprised that I even started to fight back after two years, but of course they noticed. I can’t believe I thought they didn’t.” I realized I was mumbling and cut off my rant with a muttered curse. Mom taught me to enunciate, and her teachings were one of the only things I still had of her.


“I need their full names, miss Hebert,” Piggot said.


I leaned back, startled. Before, she’d been a bored predator, ready to bite my head off if she needed to but content to let me ramble on. Now she was intent, focused.


“Uh, Emma Barnes, she’s the person I’d say is probably responsible. She was always at her best in social situations, could’ve given one of the heroes my description and said she’d seen me killing people or something. Then there’s Sophia Hess. She’ll kick you down the stairs if she doesn’t think you’re scared enough. She’s not as bad as Emma, but … it’s close.”


Especially since the workshop prank. She was the reason I didn’t try hiding in the club or elective rooms anymore. If my power didn’t require me to use metal, I’d probably have developed a phobia of it. It’d taken almost a month before I could even touch a spoon again, and the promise of powers to get me to order my first metal-mind and the steel flakes. I was over that aversion by now, but that incident was the closest I’d ever gone to going Carrie.


“And then there’s Madison Clements. I don’t think she’s as … um, invested as the others, but she’s just as much of a pain. She spreads rumors, or gets others to do stuff in return for favors. One time the entire football team followed me home, and I thought—nevermind. Uh, those are the main ones.”


Piggot nodded and made a gesture in the air. “I see. We’ll look into these people. You won’t be going back to school for a while since you’re technically still not cleared of the crime, and the law says we need to have constant surveillance on you at all times, but otherwise you’re free to do as you will.


“You’ve seen what crime does to this city, to its people. If you want to do anything that will actually help, join the Wards. We’ll be better able to solve any problems that develop in your civilian identity as well as steering you on to the path of an effective hero.


“Assault will escort you out and answer any questions you might have. I have to deal with this mess.”


She began making gestures in the air again. After waiting for a moment in case she had anything else to say, I turned around and left. As promised, Assault was waiting on the other side of the door, dressed up in his red bodysuit, holding a classic hero pose that relaxed into a casual slump against the wall a moment later. He had a featureless mask in his hands and held it up so me as soon as I faced him.


“Here. For your identity. You know what they say: better late than never.”


I took it and put it on. It wasn’t my size, but it did have some light adhesive that kept it from falling off. It wasn’t until we started walking that I realized Piggot had forgotten to actually explain the situation as she’d said she would. Maybe she forgot? No, that didn’t seem like her. I tentatively decided that her speech about not explaining had just been her telling me what she was doing.


“So, you got a name? Or should I just call you Mask?”


I sighed. “Might as well. The closest thing to a hero name my power gives me is utterly ridiculous.”


“Ah, weird power? Well, there goes my first suggestion. Tying your name to your power is a good bet if you don’t want to regret it years later when it’s too late to change. Clockblocker feels all smug now, but I’d bet money that once he gets into the Protectorate he’ll be gritting his teeth whenever he hears it.”


My eyebrows rose. “Assault and Battery.”


He grinned. “Some of us never grow up.”


We walked some more. I was tense, ready for him to start telling me about the Wards, but he never did. “Just say it already,” I said.


He raised a single eyebrow in that annoying way only some people could do. “You’re waiting for me of all people to give you the standard recruitment speech? They gave up on trying to get me to do that a long time ago. Nowadays I tend to ask potential recruits stuff like, ‘How was your day?’ and wait for them to let out all the terrible details to someone who actually cares. So, how was your day?”


“Someone who actually cares?” I said.


“Kids can tell when someone’s just humoring them. Even big kids like you or me,” he said in a low voice, like he was telling me some grave secret.


I eyed him. It wasn’t like telling someone would hurt. The PRT already knew the details, and one of the heroes thought I’d tried to kill a guy. Getting my side of the story on the record could only help. And I had no doubt that it would be on the record. Assault could be as friendly as he wanted, but I knew the purpose was to get me to spill any incriminating information.


So I told him. First about Emma, and our friendship. Then Sophia’s entrance and Emma’s betrayal. He flinched at that part; he probably had a similar experience in his past as well. There were rumors on PHO that Assault had been a villain before he joined the Protectorate. I left out the moment when I gained powers. I told him about running from Lung, the claws missing by an inch as I accelerated out of the way just in time, feeling in a very visceral way how my reserves of speed dropped as I did so and knowing if I reached empty I was dead. About the way a pit formed in my stomach as I flailed out with powers I didn’t understand and launched myself into the air, and guided myself down with exacting detail, as Armsmaster talked to me in a few terse sentences and rode away to find Lung as soon as he was sure I wasn’t a villain. Then I described my encounter with the Trio in the bathroom, and my desperate self-delusion as I tried to convince myself that their reactions meant they hadn’t discovered my secret, and finding the body and the endless stream of foam coming at me in an unstoppable wave.


“…and they just drove around the corner and doused me in the stuff. I was bandaging the guy, why couldn’t they have just taken a second to see if I was violent before sticking me in it for hours on end?”


Assault tilted his head to the side as he thought. “It’s … you have to understand their mindset before you’ll actually get it. I didn’t, not for the longest time. Powers … they give you more than just the power itself. They give you a sort of diplomatic immunity. Hookwolf isn’t going to just kill you on the streets, because the Empire needs you. The Merchants, the ABB and even the Protectorate will all treat you with a certain amount of respect because capes are rare, and they keep the game going. For someone who’s just a normal person, every time they’re up against a cape they face death at the flick of a finger. And there’s nothing you can do after you’re dead. Sure, the cape could go to prison, but they won’t put you in the Birdcage unless you murder your way through swathes of civilians, or do something completely unacceptable. Like killing a cape.”


I sighed. “Diplomatic immunity? I guess I could see that; I had wondered why heroes never just yanked the masks off and hunted down anyone with powers after they escaped so many times. And I’m not trying to be one of those people who complains all the time, it’s just … my first night out, I fought Lung. I was just looking for small crimes, you know? I was hoping to catch a drug deal in progress, or a mugger or something. Not anyone armed, and definitely not Lung. I figured I could just use my speed to run away if I came across anything that was too much, but he was going to kill children, and I didn’t even have a phone with me. And then the second time I get wrapped up in the cape stuff, I’m not even in costume.”


“When you put it like that, your luck is pretty awful. You’re a regular Calamity Jane, aren’t you?”


I blinked. “Yeah … You know, I told myself that whatever Armsmaster called me would be my name if I didn’t come up with one before school let out. This is sort of the same thing, isn’t it? Calamity Jane … I can work with that.”


He snorted. “I’m glad you think so, though I’d wait until hearing what the image consultant has to say before settling on that. If you join the Wards, anyway.”


We reached the front desk, and I looked out the bulletproof windows. Huh. For some reason I’d expected it to be night. With luck, I could get home before Dad even noticed I was gone.


“Oh, before I leave you: your dad’s coming to pick you up. Don’t worry, he wasn’t angry or anything. He mostly sounded relieved. Good luck out there, kid.”

 

[pbthhhht]

Ok, disregard the earlier edit of my message. I see that Sophia's full name was listed.

Overall, interesting how things are progressing.

 

[Northwoog]

i hope those 3 and the prt die in fire

 

[Erukk]

Thank you, I must have forgotten this. Was there any mention that a Thinker was used to investigate him?

Click to shrink...

Not that i'm aware of. Kid Win gathered the information while he was doing the whole recruitment speech with "totally legal" methods. Though, the argument could be made that "legal" information gathering done by tinkertech would be on par with thinker assessment.

Though, the circumstances might be a bit different the two. Chariot, at that time, wasn't linked to or suspected in any sort of violent crimes, but Taylor was (even if it doesn't turn out true). So while i'm not sure they would call in the Thinker Tank for it, they would have to do at least a brief background check, since she got picked up and flagged as her civilian identity, and they would have to do some investigations on the supposed crimes committed (and not to mention her possible powers) before they come up with a game plan on how to deal with her: recruitment or no.

 

[Lightwavers]

Not that i'm aware of. Kid Win gathered the information while he was doing the whole recruitment speech with "totally legal" methods. Though, the argument could be made that "legal" information gathering done by tinkertech would be on par with thinker assessment.

Though, the circumstances might be a bit different the two. Chariot, at that time, wasn't linked to or suspected in any sort of violent crimes, but Taylor was (even if it doesn't turn out true). So while i'm not sure they would call in the Thinker Tank for it, they would have to do at least a brief background check, since she got picked up and flagged as her civilian identity, and they would have to do some investigations on the supposed crimes committed (and not to mention her possible powers) before they come up with a game plan on how to deal with her: recruitment or no.

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I'm going to err on the side of canon and assume that since Thinker investigation was never mentioned in regards to Wards recruitment, it's not standard for some reason or other.

 

[Dusk]

Hmmm, I would say they wouldn’t be allowed to talk to her or really do anything without her parent/guardian present. So it seems off that she can be interrogated and investigated without her dad.

Usually detaining someone is max 48 hours but you could secure that M/S protocols add to that for the extra week although I don’t see how that applies to her as she wasn’t suspected of any M/S stuff. Sophia trying to cover her ass makes sense but it blew up spectacularly. I’d like to think she and Emma would have gone to bully/abuse route to keep Taylor from spilling the beans.

Last I don’t think they have a legal right to surveil her as she was never charged with a crime and is not detained I feel that would be violating the 4th amendment.

As for the story premise I like the idea. I have only read the 1st book myself but I like the alt power idea. Like most alt powers I hope you have a plan on where you want to go with it. You can only follow canon so much and having a good story outline could help a lot. There are a lot of interesting things that she could do/be as a full born.

Promising idea just watch out rushing the plot and try to add her new power to the plot or make a new plot.

 

[abzb13]

Hmmm, I would say they wouldn’t be allowed to talk to her or really do anything without her parent/guardian present. So it seems off that she can be interrogated and investigated without her dad.

Usually detaining someone is max 48 hours but you could secure that M/S protocols add to that for the extra week although I don’t see how that applies to her as she wasn’t suspected of any M/S stuff. Sophia trying to cover her ass makes sense but it blew up spectacularly. I’d like to think she and Emma would have gone to bully/abuse route to keep Taylor from spilling the beans.

Last I don’t think they have a legal right to surveil her as she was never charged with a crime and is not detained I feel that would be violating the 4th amendment.

As for the story premise I like the idea. I have only read the 1st book myself but I like the alt power idea. Like most alt powers I hope you have a plan on where you want to go with it. You can only follow canon so much and having a good story outline could help a lot. There are a lot of interesting things that she could do/be as a full born.

Promising idea just watch out rushing the plot and try to add her new power to the plot or make a new plot.

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Even in canon, the PRT has tons of things it can do that wouldn't fly in our world.

If they have precedent to hold for a week for M/S, they're going to use that as a tool even when it is not required for its own purposes - as long as they think they can have it hold up in court, at worst.

 

[Madlor23]

thinker investigation? thinker powers are just as diverse as all other power Lisa is an actually powerfull thinker in comparison to most, a thinker could be an inhuman enhancement of any skill that doesn't really mess with physics like multitasking, acting, learning or teaching, also brockton bay is mostly about flashy powers unlike let's say Las Vegas were thinkers rule, also lets remenber Cauldron is a thing and they constantly kill unaligned thinkers and orher people that learn that they exist, so outside od dogwatch pure thinkers are rare in the Protectorate.

I mean Coil is technically a precog even if he doesn't know it and the only reason he lives is because cauldron literally owns him, and all other important thinker in the city( i don't count Victor or Uber) work for him (Tt and the Oracle girl).

 

[Slowpokerface]

^Basically this.

People seem to forget that not every thinker is on the level of Lisa or Dinah, and even if they were, they have bigger fish to fry.

People can act as though not vetting every potential ward is incompetence. But wasting the thinkers' time on that stuff when they should be used to keep an eye on more dangerous threats would be even more incompetent.

Not to mention the thinkers they have aren't necessarily optimized for the task of checking people.

The PRT has a sense of this. They consider every threat, and they have thinkers and Dragon working to monitor major problem sites. They get a squad of thinkers to check on Nilbog every week or two, and they get responses like "Black!" "Nine!" "Trojan Horses, Director."

They think about leaving him alone, and they get a response of "Yellow", "Three" "Poisoned apple trees, sir." from the same three thinkers.

Click to shrink...

People seriously expect the PRT to vet potential wards based on that sort of precognition?

A more reasonable solution is for the vetting process to be ongoing. You judge the chance of them being a mole, do a criminal background check, you interview the family, check who their friends are. When they join, you check if the existing wards have noticed anything odd. In the case of Wards ENE, you can use the resident empath to keep an eye on them. In Chariot's case, Kid Win got a strange feeling just because the guy seemed to be feigning reticence, and he decided to investigate.

It's not perfect, but it's what they've got.

 

[Lightwavers]

Assault had been right.


My Dad wasn’t angry, not even close. He acted kind of … hollow, like he was trying desperately to treat everything as normal despite how everything had changed. He even ignored the phone the PRT had given me, even though I awkwardly held it clutched against my chest as I got in the car.


“I’m glad you’re okay,” he said as we started driving.


I flinched. He said it in a calm, level tone, but his hands were tightly clutched against the wheel.


“Dad…”


“What would you like to have for dinner tonight? I forgot to go to the store today, but we still have that spaghetti from last night.”


I closed my eyes and breathed in. This was his way of saying that everything could still be normal, that he knew I hadn’t told him about my powers and was willing to play along. A few days ago I would’ve said this was the best possible outcome, but now I just wanted him to react.


“I was going to tell you, Dad. When I finally figured out how my powers worked and got enough money—”


“Enough money that you couldn’t hide it.”


I curled into myself. That was the harshest thing Dad had said to me since before Mom died, and even though I knew it was relatively innocuous and he was completely justified, it still hurt. Somehow the sting was worse than Sophia’s beating, which caused a twinge in my side as I remembered it.


He let out a breath. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that. I was just worried about you.”


But I knew he did mean it, that moments of tension were when the truth came out. Like when Emma revealed her hate for me, or the druggies I’d sometimes see wandering around broken and begging for money. Everyone was rotten inside in some way, but some people, like Piggot, were really really good at hiding it. And others such as Assault or Clockblocker warded away that inner nastiness with humor.


“I … talk to me Dad. I don’t know what you’re thinking.”


He smoothly stopped at a yellow light, ignoring the furious honk from behind us. “I always knew something like this would happen. I just hoped it would be later. Your Mom, she always stood for what she knew was right.”


He was referring to the time that Mom had run with Lustrum’s crew, before that wave of feminism had gone too far and crashed and burned, setting the movement back years. I’d had suspicions that she hadn’t quit quite so early, and it seemed Dad was finally acknowledging that.


“It wasn’t what killed her, in the end, but sometimes I couldn’t help but think that it would come back to us. And then you just go out and—I heard that was you Lung was following last night. Lung. Please tell me your power makes you invincible.”


“It uh … can kind of do that, yeah,” I said cautiously.


“That’s a no, then,” he said grimly.


“If I had the right metals, I could survive my own beheading.”


I paused. I wasn’t sure where that knowledge had come from, but it felt right. If I had enough health inside a gold-mind … yeah. One of the rules of Feruchemy I’d teased out of the info-dump in my head was that I couldn’t hurt myself from storing something vital, I’d just automatically start tapping instead. I assumed that rule held true as long as I was touching the relevant metalmind, even if I couldn’t consciously tap it because I lacked a head. I wondered if a new body would grow from the head, a new head would sprout up from the body, or I’d just have to flail about until I found my head and manually reattached it. I shuddered. One thing was for sure: I never wanted to learn from experience.


The car started moving again. Dad was tense, shoulders drawn in in a mirror of my own.


“I shouldn’t be working myself up in the car,” he muttered, consciously relaxing his muscles in an exercise I recognized as one the dockworkers used to limber up before working. “We’ll talk more once we get home, okay?”


I quietly agreed, and stored steel for the rest of the ride. Once we reached the house, Dad parked the car. We went inside and sat at our places at the kitchen table, habit making the action automatic.


“So you probably want to know about my powers.”


He had an odd look on his face. “I—sure. What’s your power?”


I got up. “I’ll be right back, just gotta get my notebook.”


The trip upstairs was quick. I took a moment to calm myself. Didn’t I have emotional control as an ability? I could really use a dose of pure relaxation right now. I mentally bumped up the priority for zinc or brass and groaned when I remembered the last time I’d had my backpack, and with it my notebook, had been at the scene of a crime. I had no illusions about the ability of my substitution cipher to stand up to government code crackers. At least I’d only written down some of my Allomantic abilities. I resolved right then to never write down anything about Hemalurgy. If the Protectorate saw what I could do with that, learned about the superpowered minions or incredibly-strong trolls I could create and mind control to do whatever I wanted, I’d be sitting in a cell until I agreed to join the Wards or else get shipped off the Birdcage. I’d seen the Canary trial, I knew what happened to capes even vaguely reminiscent of Nilbog or the Simurgh.


Speaking of the Simurgh, I wondered what copper would do against her. Hide-pulse, my power told me. The key was the pulse, I thought. Was precognition done through some sort of science-y ‘pulse’ that copper could block? I shook my head. I was trying to distract myself from Dad, and it was working. I dropped the phone on my desk and snatched a vial of steel flakes from under my bed, clomping down the stairs and pulling up my chair.


“Sorry Dad, the PRT probably have my notebook as evidence.”


Not that it mattered all that much. I had all the information I needed about my power right here in my head. I’d just thought it would be less awkward if we were staring at a page instead of at each other. I quickly explained the difference between Allomancy and Feruchemy, and how they were two different methods of using my power.


“I only have steel right now, because it has to be the exact right alloy or it won’t work, but even without any other metals I have two useful powers already.”


I touched my steel-mind and tapped, pulling hard at the stored speed until everything was frozen in place, then walked over to the other side of the room, hunching down as close to the ground as I could get so that I didn’t accidentally push myself into the air and have to wait for gravity to ever so slowly pull me back down. I let the world resume.


Dad jerked back, startled, then shook his head. “Guess I’ll have to get used to that.”


I went back and sat down, pulling out the vial and putting it on the table. The steel flakes swirled around in the alcohol solution. I took it, unstoppered, and drank. The store of power flared to life inside me, and translucent blue lines appeared leading from sources of metal all over the house to my chest. I put the steel-mind down and tried giving it a light push, just enough to send it rolling across the table. It stubbornly refused to move. I frowned and pushed harder. With an effort of will, the metal inside me flared and I felt the lightest full-body shove. The metal rolled forward a few inches and stopped.


“That’s odd. When I used it before, Pushing off with Allomancy was strong enough to let me fly.”


Dad frowned, putting his hand to his chin as he thought. “Well, I can think of two possible reasons that you had such a hard time moving it. The first is that your special steel resists your telekinesis just because it’s the right alloy to use with your powers. Having that kind of weakness would line up with what I’ve heard about many of the most powerful heroes and villains, except for the Triumvirate. The other possibility is that your two ways of using your power interfere with each other, so you can’t easily move anything you’re using for speed, and vice versa.”


Huh. That was pretty important to think about. If I had that kind of weakness, I’d have to watch out for metal. First I’d need to test it, though. I had two more vials of Allomantic steel upstairs I needed to try Pushing. And I might as well try storing some speed in a steel flake and then trying to burn it to see if it worked the other way around as well.


“So what are the other metals, and what do they do?”


I brought him up to speed with what I knew and suspected of the first eight Allomantic metals, then started speculating about the rest. There was cadmium, which gave me the feeling of Pull-time, and bendalloy which seemed paired with cadmium, as I got Push-time from it. Some sort of time manipulation was my guess, and depending on how they worked—maybe freezing and unfreezing objects in time, respectively—I might be able to pull off a decent Clockblocker impression. Gold was hard to interpret, but a rough translation was past-self-sight, which … might be useful? Electrum was the opposite, as future-self-sight, and I had a good feeling about that one.


“Sounds like every two metals are paired in some way, like iron and steel. We might be able to guess at what they do if we just get you half of every pair,” Dad said, absently fiddling with the empty steel vial.


I went through the next Allomantic metals quickly. Chromium was empty-other, aluminum empty-self, and I was not going to be trying that on anyone friendly until I knew exactly what that meant; nicrosil was burn-other and duralumin burn-self. That probably meant it enhanced Allomantic abilities, based on how I burned steel, but I resolved to treat them like chromium and aluminum.


Thankfully, the feeling-descriptions I got for Feruchemical abilities were much clearer.


“So at first I thought that iron would let me store weight, but I’m pretty sure tapping it really hard won’t cause me to collapse into a puddle, so now I think it lets me store density. It won’t let me fly on my own, but if I use it and steel I bet I could do a pretty good imitation of it. Tin and Pewter feel the same as the Allomantic versions, just more … selective. Then zinc is also speed, but only mental speed, along with something else. Intelligence, I think?”


By now it was night, and neither of us were at the table anymore. I was pacing, alternately storing and tapping my steel between thoughts, and Dad was cooking for the first time in a while. Well, he was reheating spaghetti, but still. This was the first time we’d had more than brief, cursory interactions in a while.


“For brass, I get warmth. It’s part of what made me think I was a Tinker when I first got my powers, because when I think about it I get this image of me melting metal and shaping it with my bare hands, and I know I can do it. It’s like I have these instincts, where I know exactly how to get the right alloy of any metal or make sure it’s pure.”


And how to fashion any metal into the ideal Hemalurgic spike, and place it optimally in the human body to take or give power, and give me influence. Or to change it into an inhuman one. At most, I was going to use that knowledge to make myself piercings that wouldn’t fall out.


“Copper lets me store memories, so when I get some studying will be a breeze.”


Dad laughed and placed two plates of spaghetti down on the table. “I think your teachers would consider that cheating.”


I stuck my tongue out at him. “Hey, it’s not like anyone’s going to know. Unless someone tells on me.”


He raised his hands. “Alright, alright, I surrender. I’ll keep your secret, mysterious parahuman.”


I smiled. “After that, there’s bronze. I can put in … anti-sleepiness?”


“I think you mean wakefulness.”


“Eh, that works too,” I said with a shrug. “Cadmium can store breath. I’m not sure if that means it holds oxygen, or if I can breathe in something like sleeping gas and store that so it doesn’t affect me. I’ll have to test that. Just like everything else. Bendalloy lets me store … energy, sort of. But not like pure energy, more like … food? And drinks? Gold’s the metal I should probably get next because it can hold health. Unfortunately, it’s gold, so I’ll probably have pretty much every other metal first.”


Dad paused and gave me a look I couldn’t read. I tilted my head, inviting him to interject, but he said nothing. I frowned and continued.


“Electrum’s made from gold and silver, so it’s probably going to be just as difficult to get ahold of. It only stores determination, so it’s not essential or anything. Chromium is kind of weird. It can hold fortune, but I don’t know how that works. My luck’s bad enough as it is that I don’t really want to risk storing it, but I’ll probably have to if I want to actually be a hero.”


And if used as a Hemalurgic spike, chromium could steal destiny. I imagined someone spiking Eidolon and shuddered. Would it act like a Stranger power, transferring all the respect and authority he had? Or would someone with his destiny just happen to luck into killing Nilbog and other similar S-class threats?


“Then nicrosil stores … powers, is the closest word I can think of. I might be able to put my ability to use Allomancy or Feruchemy inside some nicrosil, though I’m not sure exactly how that would work in practice, or if someone else could use them.”


“You should think about testing that,” Dad said mildly.


Yeah. Trumps were rare, and if I could gift someone with, say, a few hours of steel Feruchemy people would pay a whole lot for that. I might be able to buy a gold-mind much faster if I could literally sell powers.


“The next two are pretty nebulous. Aluminum stores identity, and duralumin connection.”


Dad looked at me and nodded, though I got the feeling that the gesture wasn’t really meant for me. “You’re not going to stop.”


I could guess what he meant. “I have to be a hero, Dad. I have powers, really good ones. I can’t just do nothing.”


“I know.” His smile was wistful, now. He fiddled with his wedding band and slid it off his finger. “Twenty-four-karat. Pure gold.”


He slid it across the table to me. My eyes widened and I plucked it off the table. “Dad, you don’t have to—”


I could feel it. A neutral acceptance of whatever I decided to do, leave it empty or start filling it. The metal didn’t care.


“Dad…”


His smile was sad now. “If she knew what you could do with it, she would tell me to give it to you in a heartbeat.”


I put it on my finger, rapidly blinking. “I … thanks.”

 

[RazorSmile]

Him giving her her the ring was a nice touch. I liked the rest too.

 

[Darkarma]

I nodded. “Yeah. I’m nowhere near as fast as Velocity unless I use up a whole lot of speed all at once, but I can still punch just as hard.”


“Well, I can think of two possible reasons that you had such a hard time moving it. The first is that your special steel resists your telekinesis just because it’s the right alloy to use with your powers. Having that kind of weakness would line up with what I’ve heard about many of the most powerful heroes and villains, except for the Triumvirate. The other possibility is that your two ways of using your power interfere with each other, so you can’t easily move anything you’re using for speed, and vice versa.”

Click to shrink...

Is there a paragraph missing between these two. It just suddenly jump topics without any warning.

“I know.” His smile was wistful, now. He fiddled with his wedding band and slid it off his finger. “Twenty-four-karat. Pure gold.”

Click to shrink...

Also how squished is it? Pure gold is extremely soft, so much that a wedding band would be pretty deformed from day to day use. I'm not a metalurgist but I'm pretty sure even quenching extremely hot gold it would only harden it so much.

 

[Lightwavers]

Is there a paragraph missing between these two. It just suddenly jump topics without any warning.


Also how squished is it? Pure gold is extremely soft, so much that a wedding band would be pretty deformed from day to day use. I'm not a metalurgist but I'm pretty sure even quenching extremely hot gold it would only harden it so much.

Click to shrink...

"Scientifically, pure gold is approximately as soft as pure silver. It's slightly softer than a penny. It'll hold up to normal wear and tear - maybe not a lifetime of it though."

And thanks for pointing out the missing transition. It should be fixed now.

 

[Iceflame55]

Something tells me the Trio REALLY didn't think this 'prank' through very well. And it's going to bite EVERYONE on the ass.

 

[Darkarma]

It stubbornly refused to move. I frowned and pushed harder. With an effort of will, the metal inside me flared and I felt the lightest full-body shove. The metal rolled forward a few inches and stopped.

Click to shrink...

And now Taylor starts on the path of Investiture.

Its only a matter of time before she starts creating invested artifacts like the Bands of Mourning

Who wants to bet that Invested objects are manton limited.

 

[BrainFreeze]

And now Taylor starts on the path of Investiture.

Its only a matter of time before she starts creating invested artifacts like the Bands of Mourning

Who wants to bet that Invested objects are manton limited.

Click to shrink...

It's more likely that this line of thought will lead her to discovering compounding. If one interaction between her powers is unusual, it is only sensible to check the others.

 

[RoadrunnerJ]

Investiture is a property of the things them selves, Manton limits are something artificial from the shard, so they really should not crossover at all. Also, aluminum is allyomanticly neutral, meaning it cannot be pushed or pulled and If you put some around your head (like lining a hat with it) you are immune to allyomantic mind manipulation.

 

[Darkarma]

Investiture is a property of the things them selves, Manton limits are something artificial from the shard, so they really should not crossover at all. Also, aluminum is allyomanticly neutral, meaning it cannot be pushed or pulled and If you put some around your head (like lining a hat with it) you are immune to allyomantic mind manipulation.

Click to shrink...

Yes but its also been stated that cape bones (and I think the iron of their blood) will be a substitute for the god metals and will have hemalurgic properties. Which means there is shard crossover already in play. Hence invested objects may appear to powers to be part of the cape of made them, hence manton limited.

Edit: AHA! I know! I bet Hoid was one of the orderlies or nurses and who slipped Taylor a lerasium bead!

 

[MrTwistr]

Knowing how good Taylor is a justifying her actions in cannon its only time before the spikes come out and the minions come in.

 

[torac]

This is one of the few powers where I would directly go to the Wards without seriously considering any other options, at least as after being outed.

The power relies on specific metals so heavily that going out alone is pretty much crippling until she can earn a lot of money. Even then, I’d be constantly afraid of the unusual metal purchases being tied back to me in her place. Additionally, the forced down-time with the Wards is ideal for filling the metalminds, to be at her most powerful when she can finally do something.

Mind you, I’d also go for some extracurricular activities (patrols) if she does not get out enough. Shadowstalker got away with that for months, after all, and Taylor is less likely to (intentionally) leave corpses and PR nightmares in her wake.

 

[Hookedonthesky]

Okay this is getting much better. To be honest, I was a bit put off by the first two chapters and I only stayed because I really wanted to read a Mistborn crossover. But the quality is getting better and better, so I'm glad I did stay. I would suggest going back and rewriting the beginning at some point, to better draw in new readers, but besides that, keep up the good work!

 

[Burningsock]

Well this is shaping up very nicely. Thanks for the quick updates! The ring at the end of the chapter was inspired. Although Taylor will still need a source of gold for compounding. If used right nicrosil can be used as clockblocker type shielding if used in a split-second burn. With practice and timing it could possibly be used to tank a hit from levy. Burning bendalloy for time might also allow for a vast increase of speed storage in a steelmind, not a cannon interaction but it fits with some of the pewter burn storage tricks.

As much as I often don't like to see Taylor in the wards due to the limitations and oversight (although that girl definitely can use the friends and social interaction) it is probably the best bet for her to get the metals she needs, give her a tinker 2 rating and she gets a workshop and materials. At least wards is probably best for a start, eventually leaving them would probably be best. She makes metalminds and vials (hopefully out of something stronger than glass, personally I would make them out of steel and make them more steelminds) then she is nicely set up. If she stays independent then she needs cash and lots of it, can be traced, needs to make a workshop for metalworking, and definitely has a slower start up before she could be considered 'safe', on the plus side she can do a lot more than in the wards. Also there is no way in the wards she is getting god metals and I can see her wanting to give Danny allomancy to keep him safe if she gets tracked, plus atium fueled contessa or ziz fight.

I am enjoying this a lot so far, keep up the good work!