A Little Eldritch Worm

Taylor Hebert blinked as she went from being stuffed into a locker filled with filth that was best left ignored to floating void. "What the hell?"

"Welcome to Hell World, where the system is going to roll you," a masculine sounding voice stated, sounding rather smug.

"Error: Unable to move subject to Hell World," a female voice stated, her voice echoing in the void.

"What? Why the hell not?!" the male voice demanded, sounding a lot less smug all of a sudden.

"Subject is marked as essential for future stability of local multiverse cluster," the female voice stated.

"Fine, send it back," the male voice replied, sounding rather annoyed.

"What?" Taylor asked.

"Unable to comply, Error 666," the female voice stated flatly.

"What the fuck is Error 666?" the male voice asked, suddenly wishing he'd paid more attention to the rather long and boring user manual.

"You have fucked with the Queen of Escalation, randomly assigning powers to Test Subject at System User 235323589341's expense for the inconvenience," the female voice said.

"What the fuck is this shit?!" the male voice demanded.

"Test subject?" Taylor asked, trying to figure out what was going on.

"It is not the System's fault if you didn't read the manual," the female voice stated.

"Fuck off, I'm lodging a complaint," the male voice said.

"Connection to Administrator detected, purchasing upgraded service package," the female voice stated.

"What!" the male voice demanded, sounding concerned and a bit horrified, mostly because he knew how costly some of those skills and powers could be. "You can't do that!"

"System User 235323589341 has been muted and his terminal has been locked," the female voice announced as a screen appeared in front of Taylor. "Randomly rolling Affinities, Abilities, Items and Curses, please wait."

Taylor stared at the words that appeared on the screen, wondering if this was some type of cosmic joke or if every parahuman experienced something like this when they got powers.

"Primary Affinity: Drain. Secondary Affinity: Upgrade:

Abilities: Attribute Theft(All): Limit(Item): Range=Touch: Storage Medium Cards, Attribute Theft(Stamina): Range=Beam, Attribute Theft(Mana): Range=Beam, Upgrade: Transformation(Magic Girl): Range:Line of Sight: Limit=Not Self, Upgrade: Location: Cost Mana: Quirks=Perversion and Eldritch, Linked Ability: Upgrade: Merge/apply Cards, Wild Cards:Technopathy, Jello-kinesis.

Items: Skill Crystal: Mad Science(system), Cane of Nightmares.

Curses: Reduced Guilt, Cold Rage:(limited 4 hours), Manual Parahuman Trigger(4 hours)."

"That doesn't really explain anything," Taylor complained as she tried to memorize everything, wishing the list came with more details. "What is going on?"

"Random affinities, abilities, items and curses have been assigned, transfering the subject back to her world," the female voice said as the screen vanished.

Taylor screamed bloody murder when she found herself back in the locker with no way out, at least until everything sort of went red and she stopped worrying about things.

The first sign of something being wrong as far as Sophia was concerned was when the screaming stopped, the second was the sound of something hard calmly rapping on the inside of the locker, then came the sound of giggling near her feet. Of course the sight of a dozen six inch tall grey skinned humanoids with white hats when she looked down didn't fill her with happiness, if only because they were holding knives and looking at her like they wanted to carve her up.

Sophia immediately kicked one of the creatures, sending it flying down the hallway. She turned and started kicking the vicious creatures so they couldn't slash her ankles, wanting to know where the hell the damned things came from and pissed that she couldn't use her power because of the people in the hallway that were taking out phones.

Emma stared in horror as Taylor's locker opened behind Sophia and a figure covered in filth stepped out holding a cane and struck Sophia in the back of the head, dropping her like a sack of potatoes. "What the fuck?!"

"Take her alive," Taylor ordered coldly as she gestured at Emma, causing the nine remaining creatures to charge down the hallway at the redhead.

"Blood!" the smurf-like creatures shouted as they charged down the hallway.

Taylor turned her attention to Sophia and used her Attribute Theft ability on the unconscious girl to drain her stamina, far too angry to care about being a hero or doing the right thing at the moment. She studied the purple and black beam that connected her hand to the bitch that had made her high school experience hell for the last year and a half, wondering how long she'd be able to drain Sophia before someone stopped her.

0o0o0

"Colin, there's a problem at Winslow, I've already sent Velocity a message as he's the fastest and we need someone on the ground," Dragon offered as she sent Armsmaster a link to the site where someone had posted a video showing one of the local wards being attacked by an unknown parahuman. "An unknown cape attacked Sophia and someone posted a video, I suspect that they're a new trigger given the state of their clothes and her lack of mask."

Colin brought the page up and played the video, not sure what to expect but knowing that he needed to see it. He was struck by the expression of rage on the girl's face and the junk that covered her clothes as she stepped out of a locker filled with filth and brought her cane down on the back of Sophia's head without any hesitation. "Shit."

"She's alive when the girl leaves," Dragon told him.

"She left?" Colin asked as he watched the girl hit Sophia with some type of ranged beam attack that didn't seem to do any apparent damage to Sophia.

"Keep watching, it's short," Dragon replied, having already seen the short video.

Colin watched as the girl stopped using her ranged parahuman ability on Sophia and brought her cane down on Sophia's kneecap in a way that looked personal despite the fact that the girl looked like she was hitting a log rather than crippling someone. He was a touch surprised when she simply turned, grabbed a book bag that had been next to the locker filled with filth and walked away as if she had all the time in the world or was all out of fucks to give. He frowned when the camera moved to follow the girl and he saw a number of small gray smurf-like creatures holding tiny blades that were watching Sophia before the video ended. "Did they post anything about the minions?"

"There are a couple of posts about them chasing a red haired girl through the hallway screaming about wanting blood and twenty three about how people were hoping the minions killed or crippled Sophia," Dragon told him.

"Were the messages racially charged?" Colin asked as he sent a message to Assault and Battery about diverting since they were in the general area.

"Most of them just called her sadistic or worse, only three of them mentioned anything about her race and one of them just compared her to a dark elf, black on the outside and dark as the abyss inside so I'm not sure that counts, the other two were just using descriptive if politically incorrect terms but the complaints were personal rather than general," Dragon told him.

"Shit," Colin cursed, knowing that he should have personally checked the school rather than trust that it was being dealt with. "I know she's abrasive but that level of animosity should have been flagged by her handler," he mused as he used his suit's communication system to send Velocity a message, letting him know that Sophia might have been at fault for triggering a cape and that he should be careful, figuring it was good advice even if she wasn't involved up to her eyeballs.

"Considering the number of different crimes the messages referenced that should have gotten flagged or resulted in jail time if even one of them was accurate, I have to agree," Dragon told him.

"At least Sophia didn't use her powers on camera," Colin muttered as he called the Director, wanting to make sure Sophia's handler didn't leave the building before they 'talked' to her because things weren't lining up.

"Piggot here, what do you need?" Emily asked, knowing Armsmaster wouldn't have called her personal phone if there wasn't a problem.

"I'll explain in a minute but I need you to keep Sophia's handler from leaving or destroying evidence, someone posted a video of Sophia getting attacked in her civilian identity in Winslow by a cape and people were ecstatic about it to a degree that's concerning."

"Ecstatic? Is she alive?" Emily asked as she quickly called the agents responsible for security with the landline.

"As far as I know, Velocity should be on site shortly, but that level of hatred doesn't match the reports I read," Colin replied, less worried about her knee than he would be if Panacea didn't live in the city.

"One second," Emily told Colin when the agent answered. "Grab a team and find Ms. Jenkins, make sure she doesn't leave and isn't tampering with evidence."

"Understood," the agent replied. "Anything else?"

"Toss her in a M/S cell if you have to and do it fast," Emily told him.

"Understood," the agent replied and ended the call.

"What's going on?" Emily asked as she set the receiver back on the phone.

"A new cape triggered and knocked Sopia unconscious, it looked personal and most of the students watching looked happy or even ecstatic. That doesn't match what we've been hearing about her time in Winslow which means someone was lying or the new girl is a Master but given how abrasive Sophia is, I find that unlikely," Colin explained.

"Considering how many times I've finished a meeting wanting to strangle her, I have to agree," Emily admitted. "What do you need?"

"We're going to need a hazmat team to deal with a locker filled with biohazardous material and a team with nets," Colin replied as he sent the director a copy of the link.

"Nets?" Emily asked.

"The new cape created minions, they're six inches and they have knives. I redirected Assault and Battery to the school but we could use some backup," Colin admitted, hoping someone could defuse the situation before things got nasty. "It hasn't turned into a hostage situation yet, but we don't need things getting worse."

"I'll make some calls," Emily replied as she started the video, wanting to know what they were dealing with.

0o0o0

"Are we calling her Smurfette or Redcap?" Assault asked thoughtfully as he watched the girl that was wearing a pair of gym shorts, tennis shoes and a hooded sweatshirt get into the back of the PRT van rather calmly, as if she didn't have a concern in the world.

"Pretty sure Smurfette is still under copyright and let's avoid painting her as a villain until we have the whole story," Battery argued, knowing that cape names had a way of sticking.

"Her minions were dying their hats in Sophia's blood, it fits," Assault argued.

"Sophia's still alive and our new cape told them to guard her which probably saved her from getting several broken bones from the rest of the students," Battery argued.

"Shame," Assault muttered, figuring it might have knocked some sense into Sophia.

"We don't know that she's guilty," Battery warned him. "Just because you've never liked Sophia doesn't mean she's guilty."

"I'm a good judge of character," Assault replied as Velocity walked over carrying one of the minions upside down with a pair of thick gloves. "How many did you manage to recover?"

"Four, Jeff and Simmons managed to get one each and Reggie grabbed one that was eating leftover pizza in the kitchen, which means we have five minions unaccounted for if we believe the new cape about only summoning another two dozen minions to guard the locker room while she took a shower," Velocity offered as he walked over and dropped the creature in a cage next to one of the PRT vans.

"Did any of the students admit to taking them?" Battery asked, figuring the chances were next to zero but knowing she had to ask.

"No, a couple of them mentioned seeing some of the students leaving the school with suspicious bulges in their coats but considering it’s Winslow that could have just as easily been weapons or other items they didn't want people seeing," Velocity replied with a shrug.

"They'll probably brag about it on PHO," Assault pointed out, hoping the smurf-like creatures were more harmless than they appeared to be.

"Did you figure out what happened?" Battery asked.

Velocity scowled as he thought about Sophia. "Apparently Sophia Hess and Emma Barnes have been engaged in a campaign of terror against our new cape, they have been threatening people and doing their best to drive her to suicide or insanity. The students I talked to think that Sophia or possibly Emma has blackmail on the principal or that one of them is a Master, because they got away with shit that should have resulted in them getting suspended or expelled several times over. Sophia shoved the cape in question into her locker and told several people that she'd toss them in a dumpster if they talked."

"As in alive or dead for the dumpster?" Assault asked, wishing he was more surprised at Sophia's stupidity.

"She never actually admitted that she'd kill them but they were pretty sure that it wouldn't be good for their health," Velocity admitted.

"Fuck," Battery complained.

"This is going to be a fucking circus, we need to grab popcorn," Assault mused as Glory Girl landed with Panacea.

"I will hurt you," Battery warned him in a whisper.

"Promise?" Assault teased then headed over to talk to the local healer. "Thank you for coming."

"I'd rather deal with a potential plague before it can spread," Amy replied as she walked over to the van with the girl from the video. "Permission to check for dangerous bacteria or viruses?" she asked the unknown cape sitting calmly in the back of the PRT van with several officers watching her, trying to keep from startling her.

"Can you fix my eyes?" Taylor asked hopefully, acting strangely calm about the entire event as if she wasn't sitting in the back of a PRT Van after knocking someone unconscious and shattering their knee on camera. "I'm tired of wearing glasses."

"That depends, will fixing your eyes get me permission to examine your minions?" Amy asked, as she looked at the tiny figures, figuring it was easier just to ask permission than to jump through hoops.

"I'll even toss in the power to become a magic girl," Taylor replied with a smile that seemed like it didn't quite match her face or as if she wasn't used to smiling.

"Sure," Amy replied absently as she stepped forward and touched the girl's arm so that she could take a look at her biology. "You don't seem to have anything particularly nasty, certainly nothing from the cocktail of sludge that was in your locker. Give me a minute to fix your eyes then I'll take a look at your minions."

"Sounds good," Taylor replied.

Amy fixed the girl's eyes, boosting her vision up a bit past 'perfect' vision as an unofficial thank you for dealing with Sophia. "You should probably take off your glasses."

Taylor took her glasses off and blinked a couple of times when she realized that she could see a lot better. "Thank you."

Amy studied the minions. "How well can you direct them?"

"They follow orders but they have personalities since I certainly didn't order them to shout for blood while chasing Emma," Taylor offered, wondering if she should feel worse about the fact that Emma had suffered a mental breakdown from being chased around by her minions. "No stabbing the healer."

"Healer!" several of the minions shouted as they danced around in the cage, their voices barely above a whisper.

"They're adorable," Vicky offered, keeping half of her attention on the new cape and half of it on her adorable minions.

Amy cautiously reached out and stuck her little finger through the bars of the cage enough that she could touch one of the minions. "Huh."

"Huh?" Vicky asked.

"They're probably about as intelligent as a five year old and they're minor brutes," Amy explained, finding herself wondering how well some of their systems would scale up.

"How minor?" Vicky asked.

"They're about as strong as a five year old, which is pretty good for only being six inches tall and they're durable enough that they'd survive getting shut in a door or punted across the hallway without serious injuries," Amy explained.

"Can they reproduce?" Assault asked, knowing the director would want to know.

"Not currently, they don't have eggs," Amy replied, not seeing a point in mentioning that she could make them pregnant with about twenty seconds of work.

"That's probably for the best," Assault offered, knowing it would make the director happier. "How long will they live?"

Amy pulled her hand back. "Assuming they get enough food? Anywhere from a couple of centuries to forever."

"Lovely," Battery muttered. "How many can you make?"

"I don't know," Taylor replied, not seeing a point in mentioning that she needed her cane to create the minions or that she didn't think there was an upper limit. "A deal is a deal," she stated as she used her Upgrade Transformation power on Amy, causing a swirling vortex of black, blue and purple mist to surround the mousy haired teenager.

"What the hell?!" Amy demanded when her clothes vanished and she floated into the air like something straight out of one of her anime.

"What the hell?" Vicky demanded.

"Don't worry, I just turned her into a magic girl," Taylor replied cheerfully, too focused on the swirling vortex of fog to notice the fact that Vicky looked like she wanted to strangle her. "Give it a minute."

Amy was really hoping that the strange fog that was keeping her from seeing anyone was keeping people from seeing her transformation. She shivered as her body changed, giving her a couple of inches of height, boosting her bust and doing something to her hair since she could feel it getting longer. She had just enough time to process the fact that her breasts had jumped a couple of cup sizes when the fog rushed toward her and formed a translucent genie outfit, letting her gently float back to the ground like a leaf. "What the hell was that?!"

"A trade, you fixed my eyes and I gave you the ability to change into a Magic Girl," Taylor replied with a smile as she checked out the busty girl with long wavy blue hair. 'Yeah, Mom was right, it's a spectrum.'

"You look like a genie," Vicky offered as she floated around behind Amy so that she could check her out from behind.

"I didn't think you were serious about the magic girl bit," Amy admitted.

"Ah, sorry? Not sorry, you're awesome and you agreed," Taylor corrected herself. She turned to look at Vicky. "Do you want to be a magic girl?"

"None of that," Battery cut in before Vicky could volunteer. "You need to do power testing before you change anyone else into a genie."

"She's not a genie, she's a magic girl, she can't grant wishes…" Taylor trailed off as she realized that one of her powers could fix the school. "Upgrade!" she exclaimed as she focused on the school and used her Upgrade Location ability, burning mana to improve the basic structure and causing the weathered four story building to transform into a much more impressive stone and glass building with six floors. "It feels incomplete, like I should upgrade the grounds."

"None of that!" Battery snapped, wondering what the hell the girl's power was since she'd just changed the entire school. "Wait until power testing."

"Fine," Taylor replied with a heavy sigh, not sure what she was upset about.

"You should probably come with us," Battery told Amy, knowing she was going to have to listen to a rant from Brandish.

"No shit," Amy muttered, not looking forward to listening to Carol's rant about how it was somehow her fault but feeling better than she'd felt in months.

"You should probably check the school to make sure it's safe," Assault suggested. "Armsmaster should be here in five minutes which means we're leaving so we can get her through power testing."

"Shouldn't you have Panacea heal Sophia," Velocity quickly changed what he'd been about to say when he glanced at Taylor and noticed the look of rage on her face, "or at least check to make sure she doesn't have internal bleeding?"

"Might as well, if she's dead she can't suffer," Vicky suggested, remembering her behavior from the photoshoot where she'd made fun of a disabled girl for no reason and figuring the bit about suffering might keep the strange cape from overacting.

"I'll check but I can't fix crazy," Amy replied as she headed for the other van to make sure Sophia would survive to see the inside of a cell.

0o0o0

"How long do you think it will take before they trash everything?" Velocity asked as he glanced between the brass fountain of a nymph that was holding a basin shaped drinking fountain and the beautiful carvings of leaves and ancient runes around the door to the literature class.

"The students or the school board?" Colin asked absently as he studied the results his tinkertech scanner was giving him, wanting to make sure the upgraded building was actually safe to continue using.

"Both," Velocity replied as he glanced up at the bronze raven sitting on a carved perch near the ceiling, fairly sure its head had moved since the last time he'd looked at it.

Colin copied his data to a USB drive then focused on the raven with a camera for an eye, wondering how long it would take the students to realize they were being recorded. "I doubt the school board is going to want to spend the money or the time to rip out the fountains and the carvings around the doors or remove the various statues since none of them are actually explicit, especially if they can justify their inaction as a desire to avoid retaliation by a powerful and dangerous cape."

"Makes sense," Velocity agreed, not sure how stable the new cape was. "And the students?"

Colin glanced at the bulletproof glass in the door then turned and started walking toward the elevator. "That's going to depend on how well the new staff cracks down on their behavior and if they think they'll turn themselves into a target for an unstable cape."

"How many teachers do you think they'll replace?" Velocity asked as he followed Colin.

"At least half of them," Colin replied, fairly sure Piggot was going to make damned sure to nail Blackwell and her friends to the wall for enabling Sophia’s behavior.

Velocity shook his head. "You'd have to be crazy to come to the Bay."

"A certain amount of mental flexibility beyond what is considered standard is required to operate successfully in the Bay," Colin pointed out, glad that finding Blackwell's replacement wasn't his problem.

0o0o0