AOMR 33

♦ Topic: Earth Bet

In: Boards ► World News

Divide (Original Poster) (Irregulars)

Posted On Jan 15th, 2005:

Hello, my fellow PHOtards!

With the gracious permission of our blessed moderator (and clearly not a tinker), the venerable Lady Tin_Mother, I bring you a brand-new thread!

Our focus here is on the world: what’s changed in the past few years since Behemoth’s death and the Yangban’s monumental folly.

So hit me with your news, theories, and wild takes - let’s get this rolling!!

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►Tin_mother (Not a tinker) (Moderator)

Replied On Jan 15th, 2005:

@Divide first-time offender so I shall stay the ban hammer, however, PHOtards won't fly next time. Pick another name for members of our beautiful community.

►Xyloloup

Replied On Jan 15th, 2005:

Imagine getting the moderator’s permission to create your own board news - and then immediately getting smacked with the ban hammer. That would’ve been hilarious as hell.

On a side note… Yangban’s Folly?? Is that what we’re calling it now? That old man glassed part of China for a kid. Why is everyone acting cool with that?

►Flamesurfer_88 (Top 3% Contributor) (The Guy in the Know)

Replied On Jan 15th, 2005:

@Xyloloup It’s the... politically correct term. Everyone knows that while the old man’s actions were a substantial act of escalation, he has been quiet since then. The whole thing was a warning, and one that anyone with more than two brain cells to rub together has acknowledged. Case in point, no one has seen fit to disturb him since his display.

That aside, since the OP is on thin ice, it falls on someone else to get the ball rolling, so it’s time to take stock. It’s been a couple of years since Behemoth got shanked by Yamamoto Genryūsai, Old Man Genocide, also known as the walking apocalypse, or, well, he has a lot of epitaphs at this point, so moving on. It’s not just about Behemoth; there was also the glassing of Beijing.

So Let’s break it down:

No new Endbringers.

There have been no new Endbringers since Behemoth’s death, despite popular speculations. The black ops, government-created think tanks are panicking quietly. One of my cousin’s in-laws extended brothers from a distant stepmother who is connected to them told me something is brewing, but no one knows what. Every long-term precog seems to get hit with a migraine the moment they try to look past the next couple of years.

The silence of the remaining Endbringers.

Simurgh is still chilling in orbit, just hanging there like a cosmic vulture. So far, we don’t even know what she does other than fly as well as maybe a tinker. Leviathan? Deep in the Mariana Trench. And honestly, people are starting to think they’re avoiding Yamamoto, not the other way around. Considering the only reason they’re probably not dead yet is because they haven’t raised their heads high enough for our patron saint of genocide to whack them, I’m inclined to agree.

The World.

This is another bit of news I got from the grapevine. The Queen Dowager of China reportedly reached out twice, trying to smooth things over after the Yangban debacle. Zero response. The U.S., Russia, and the EU have all tried to establish some sort of formal contact or arrangement. Nothing. The old man isn’t answering the door. Word is, if you’re lucky, the person who answers is a big man who doesn’t wear a mask, but judging by the glowing draconic eyes, it’s not hard to guess his identity. If you’re unlucky, then the one who answers is an old woman with a wicked aim when she has her slippers in hand. The only one that seems to have made it past the door is the Japanese prime minister when he delivered an award to the dragon that fought Leviathan to a standstill. No cape name has been revealed yet, but I'm hearing a lot of whispers about a Kenpachi.

The old man aside, things have calmed down a lot. China is no longer an isolated country; they’re desperately trying to stop the bleeding caused by the sudden destruction of all their Yangban operatives, as well as the loss of the infrastructure of what could be called their greatest city. Luckily for them, they still have a couple of strong capes left, and the Queen Dowager has offered some pretty sweet recruitment benefits that convinced the few who escaped the Yangban’s gaze to enlist in the new organization.

Beijing has cooled enough that, over the past few months, reconstruction efforts have begun to bring life back to the city. All of that, combined with the fat wallets of the imperial family, has meant China has escaped slipping into third-world country status. Instead, they’ve simply lost their place as one of the superpowers. But considering how much effort I hear the Queen Dowager is putting in, I expect them to regain that status sooner rather than later.

Europe seems to be recovering quickly, already countries that were at risk of Behemoth's presence as well as their power plants have been rapidly recovering, both in personnel and infrastructure. No Behemoth means lesser risks. Africa doesn't seem to have noticed anything, they've not changed much to be honest.

Brockton Bay.

Here’s the weird part: you’d think the city would be peaceful, but it’s simply different. Violence now wears a suit and tie there. There’s something cultured and gentlemanly about the gangs now. It’s not exactly calm, but it’s structured. Especially the Asian district, which has become the calmest part of the city.

Petty crime is way down. Violent gangs? Gone. On the flip side, you can’t erase crime completely, so instead, there’s this new group calling themselves the Court Guards. They regulate the stuff you can’t totally stamp out, like low-level drug sales, gambling, black-market trades, and prostitution. Rumor says they answer directly to Yamamoto, though no one has seen him interact with them.

Anyway, that’s all I’ve got to offer. If someone has something more interesting, kindly share.

►Antigone

Replied On Jan 15th, 2005:

Bro, I don’t care what anyone says. If the sexy yet weird extremely humanoid winged angel isn’t coming down, SOMETHING is up. I can't put a finger on it, but I can bet you she’s plotting or waiting for something.

►Tin_mother (Not a tinker) (Moderator)

Replied On Jan 15th, 2005:

No tinfoil theories without some kind of backing, people. We’re trying to keep this speculative, not full-on conspiracy hour. This goes to you as well @Flamesurfer_88

►Kriketz (At Ground Zero: Brockton Bay)

Replied On Jan 15th, 2005:

Not sure if you all have heard, but the Court Guards are no joke. They’re like… professionals. And they’re not even capes. I went to Little Korea to visit a friend a few days ago, and that was the first time I saw them. Most of them wear white jackets or coats. They’re also more loved than the police and the Protectorate combined and act more like a neighborhood watch than a gang. Honestly, I wish they patrolled more of the city. Luckily for me though, the area I live in is under the Marche, which is about as good as you can get without being Asian.

►HeilHitler876 (Banned)

Replied On Jan 15th, 2005:

Death to those Chinks! Just wait until our Iron Lady returns to the city for her vengeance. She’s not as weak-willed as her stupid father. @Kriketz, fuck you for even suggesting those slanty-eyed fucks should step out of the slum mosh pit they call a district.

►Kriketz (At Ground Zero: Brockton Bay)

Replied On Jan 15th, 2005:

@HeilHitler. You’re sick. I had a whole lot written up originally, but Tin_Mother has already banned your ass so I'm not going to bother.

►Tin_mother (Not a tinker) (Moderator)

Replied On Jan 15th, 2005:

@HeilHitler Blacklisted your IP as well.

►AverageAlexandros (Cape Husband)

Replied On Jan 15th, 2005:

I've never seen the ban hammer hit so fast. He was literally banned a split second after he dropped the post.

►Bloodbag04 (At Ground Zero: Brockton Bay)

Replied On Jan 15th, 2005:

Let's ignore the literal Neo-Nazi. Ever since All Father left, the few of them left in the city can only rant and cry on boards like this. That aside, I can also confirm the vibe is different. Everyone still walks on eggshells, but it’s all... neat, if you know what I mean, not just random chaos.

►Paranoid Tin Head

Replied On Jan 15th, 2005:

Here’s a scary thought: what if the old man didn’t stop the Endbringers by fighting them… what if they’re staying quiet because he cut some kind of deal we don’t understand?

►Coyote-C

Replied On Jan 15th, 2005:

Does anyone else notice how all the big Thinker teams are silent about him? It’s like they’re terrified to even speculate. If that’s not a red flag, I don’t know what is.

@ParanoidTinHead I'm just going to ignore you. Instead, I'm going to focus on something more alarming. I can't be the only one that feels it. It’s like Earth Bet shifted tracks. The whole narrative’s changed. No new Endbringers, old ones dormant, cities restructuring, power balances flipping… It feels like we’re not in the same world anymore. It feels like the 1980s again.

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“Don’t tell me you plan to stay on that damn phone the whole ride, Kaito.” Those words were accompanied by an elbow nudge that forced Kaito to take his attention off PHO as he was forced to look up into the scowling face of Emily Piggot.

The bleach-blonde-haired woman with steel-gray eyes was the leader of their special operations squad under the PRT. She was easily the youngest officer, and she made up for her age by being as hard as brass on her subordinates. The only reason the severe woman wasn’t hated was because however hard she was on her subordinates, she was twice as hard on herself.

It was not obvious, especially when hidden beneath the dull gray and black heavy armor suit she wore. But beneath all that was a body forged in some of the harshest encounters against Parahumans a PRT trooper could face. Yet for all her harshness, Kaito could see some worry in those steel-gray eyes.

While she was the youngest officer among the PRT special operations teams, he was the youngest and newest member of her squad. His records as a Japanese immigrant and Kyushu survivor were sealed, but she was one of the few people with access to them. She didn’t think he was ready to start undergoing missions, but they had lost one of their active veteran members a few days ago, and he had been shoehorned in to replace the man.

A hand fell across his shoulders and shook him a bit. The act broke his eye contact with Piggot as he was forced instead to look at the man who had nudged him the first time Piggot had spoken, as well as the second-in-command of their squad.

Thomas Calvert was a man who smiled more than most, always too happy to send a quip that diffused situations, as well as a pearly smile that helped to calm most people down. The black man didn’t look it originally, not with his perpetually narrowed eyes, but Kaito had warmed up to him. He had not been in the squad for long, but he was attentive enough to recognize that Thomas Calvert worked to smooth out whatever hiccups Piggot’s rougher treatment caused. It was rarely a problem, but he had heard it used to be rougher before he joined them. It was Calvert that revealed just how much pressure she put herself under, compared to them.

“Don’t be too hard on our newbie, Emily. It’s just pre-battle jitters. Everyone deals with it separately. At least his own coping method is better than the rest of these lumps of muscles,” Calvert said with a lazy wave at the men and women in similar heavy armor as the rest of them. Most of them lay limp as they slept off the journey, the only sign of life when there was a jolt or a bump on the road causing the armored van they rode to jerk.

The ones that weren’t sleeping sent half-hearted glares as well as middle fingers to the dark-skinned man. He replied to them with his custom pearly grin.

“Maybe if he was checking up on more information about the op…” Emily stared back at him with a more appreciative and calculating look, and Kaito’s heart skipped a bit. It would be as embarrassing as it would be disappointing to reveal it was just PHO gossip he had been reading. Hopefully, she wouldn’t ask. Of course, that was when she opened her mouth and did.

“Is that what you were scrolling through your phone and checking?” Piggot inquired as she leaned forward with interest. Before Kaito could disappoint her and embarrass himself, Calvert jerked at him again, an act that shut him up as the dark-skinned man replied instead.

“By the way, I was a bit distracted during the briefing. Miguel kept kicking my feet under the table, distracting me. Can you give me a quick summary of what the whole mission is about?”

Piggot gave her second-in-command a look before releasing a sigh. “Fine.” She leaned back and looked up, trying to remember the important details. Kaito looked back at Calvert as the older man removed his hand from his shoulders. He understood what happened. There was no way that Calvert was not aware of what he had been searching; the man had been right beside him. Also, Thomas Calvert was the most attentive person Kaito knew, so there was no way he missed even a single part of the briefing. Calvert gave him a quick smile before refocusing on Piggot as the blonde woman began to speak.

“Alright, so our objective is Ellisburg, a relatively ordinary mid-sized Northeastern town with a population of about five thousand people as of last week. Sometime last week, we lost complete communications with the town as well as power. No vehicle or car has left the town since then.

The few vehicles that stopped by disappeared as well. Unfortunately, the town is too small to house its own dedicated PRT forces, other than a handful of police officers who have gone radio silent as well. Some independent heroes, with the permission of the PRT, went to check up on the town. They only managed a brief report, which ended with bloodcurdling screams before they were cut off.”

Piggot stared at all of them as her intense gray eyes roamed the now quiet and attentive van. Not a single person was sleeping anymore. “That finally caused the matter to escalate to the think tanks up above. A day later, some precog Thinker claimed that if we didn’t get in there and deal with the King soon, we would lose the city as well as the few people still alive in it. That’s where we come in. We’re being deployed alongside a couple of PRT capes and some independents that volunteered to help out.”

The van slowed as it jerked and came to a final stop. “We’ve reached our destination. I want you guys to suit up, for those that have loosened your armor. For those that haven't, take up your launchers and grenades and out the van at the double.”

Everyone sprang into action, Kaito included. Luckily for him, he had been so tense he had not bothered to loosen his heavy armor, so he was right behind Piggot when they alighted. He stepped out of the van and onto the black-paved highway. The sun was slowly disappearing over the horizon, which meant this was going to be a night operation if they were unlucky. If they were lucky, they could finish up before nightfall. While the rest of the troopers alighted, Kaito surveyed the surroundings.

They were not the only van or team here. There were two other vans. Out of one alighted another group of troopers, led by a man with a scowl as well as salt-and-pepper hair. He frowned as he stared at Piggot before focusing on his own men. From the other van dropped costumed figures. Most of them lacked the tension that wound around the troopers. They walked down from the van and to the road, making jokes and quips while chuckling at each other. All except the teenage girls that held each other’s hands.

The only two capes that didn’t bother with a mask. Other than their shared height, which meant they were close in age, they were the opposite of each other. One had blonde hair and distant blue, unfocused eyes. The other had pitch-black hair with intense amber eyes that stared back at him.

A hand nudged him in the side. “Stop staring too hard,” Calvert whispered in a low tone beside him. “You don’t want her attention on you.”

Kaito looked at the veteran trooper before glancing back, and this time the girl was no longer looking at him but at the distance where the eerily quiet town lay. “She looks familiar,” he replied to the veteran man, then Calvert gave him a thin smile in response. Gone was the bright and cheery man. “Let’s hope she continues to remain just familiar. If you’re forced to recognize her, we’re in big trouble.”

A/N: In Canon, The whole Edinburgh fiasco happened sometime in 2001. Fortunately, or unfortunately, OMG is a massive fiery butterfly and his wings have been flapped.