TheMushroomLord

We Aren't The Hero's Party - Fanrasy Anime RP (Cancelled)

Definitely interested if you've still got the room.

Parahumans: Earth Drega

All Tandems | PRT Headquarters
June 19, 2021, 9:02

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Tandem was surprised to see Axiom unmask herself so readily…


Tandem 3 | PRT Headquarters, Hallway
June 19, 2021, 9:03

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… Was that a sign that they’d done some more in-depth background checks on her and her teammates? Axiom probably wouldn’t have unmasked to them so readily if there was any chance they might secretly be gang members, or mastered, or something like that, right?

Or maybe Axiom was just an idiot? Probably not, she seemed smart and could tinkers even be idiots in the first place? If their powers taught them the principles behind their technology, surely a certain level of intelligence would be needed in order to actually apply that knowledge… or maybe tinker powers worked more like some thinker powers and just sort of gave a recipe for tinkertech without requiring any sort of understanding? Tandem’s own thinker ability was a bit like that – if she chucked a book into her inventory for a couple of hours, she’d be able to recite its contents word for word, assuming she knew the language at least, but she wouldn’t gain any deeper understanding of its contents no matter how long she let it sit in there.

She decided to ask someone about it later, probably either Axiom or Wattson…


Tandem 2 | PRT Headquarters, Meeting Room
June 19, 2021, 9:03

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… Argue as she might as to the necessity of having one of her own, Tandem did understand why it was important for most capes to have a secret identity. News hadn’t exactly been easy to come by while she’d been homeless – at least not the kind that concerned anything outside of her immediate environment and things that might affect that environment – but capes were pretty much Tandem’s favourite topic, and she’d talked about it enough to have at least some idea of the sorts of things that could happen when a cape’s identity got exposed. Not to mention that PR kept on drilling the concept into her. She wished they’d stop.

For capes, secret identities were a safeguard against other capes – the kinds of monsters that might decide that rather than risk going after another parahuman, it would be easier to just target their civilian friends or family… Which was why it seemed like kind of a big deal that Axiom would willingly unmask herself so soon. That was a major display of trust when literally every person in the know represented another liability, another avenue by which a loved one might be hurt.

Tandem felt a familiar pressure on her mind, her other selves pressing on her – trying to derail her from her current train of thought…

Of course, the risks of having a public identity only applied to most capes, and Tandem was lucky enough to be one of the ones who couldn’t really be targeted like that.

Most of her current friends were the kinds of people who had long since figured out how to lay low and fend for themselves; and even if they weren’t they’d already told her they weren’t the sorts of people anyone would bother with tracking down in order to get at her. And if she made new friends in her team they would have powers so that wouldn’t count.

… and it wasn’t she had any fam-

The instance was terminated and replaced.


All Tandems | PRT Headquarters
June 19, 2021, 9:05

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Oops, she’d been getting distracted. There was so much to do and she was meant to be doing literally anything else. For starters, she’d stopped paying as much attention to her surroundings. That needed to be resolved. She also had to grab that tinkertech. And after she’d done that maybe she should go and introduce herself to her teammates in the end – right now seemed like a very good time to do something like that.

Collecting the earpiece, Tandem quickly duplicated it twice, making sure to keep at least one of her clones in the hallway at all times. Only once there were three copies of the tinker tech, did Tandem move to equip any of them, hesitating only slightly before curiosity got the better of her and she slipped the devices onto two of her three clones, the third copy being stowed into her inventory by the clone in the hallway.

Tinkertech acquired, Tandem turned her attention to her teammates and considered the best way to approach introducing herself. Maybe she should just come out and ask them how their powers worked? That was what she wanted to talk about, and what she assumed everyone else would also want to talk about. Who didn’t love power talk?

"What powers do we all have around here?"

Before Tandem could begin to question her teammates, Shatercrash beat her to the punchline; not that she would complain this made things far easier for her. Tandem jittered on the balls of her feet, the lingering shock and panic from earlier, rapidly giving way to excitement in anticipation of the power talk. When no one immediately spoke up, Tandem took that as her opportunity to do so.

"I can store stuff I touch and then put it back anywhere within a certain distance of one of my bodies," Tandem chirped, demonstrating the ability by briefly storing her mask before making it reappear in the air a foot or so in front of her head, deftly catching it before reaffixing it to her face. She hadn’t bothered to give herself any sort of introduction, not even thinking to, and instead jumping straight into the long-awaited power talk. "I also have another power that makes there always be two or three of me, and I can move them around, and they’re all me, so it doesn’t really matter if they get stabbed or something as long as one of me is okay. Oh, and I get good at using things that I have stored for a while. And…"

As reluctant as she’d been to speak before, now that she’d gotten started she struggled to stop. Nonetheless, Tandem cut herself off. There were so many things to explain about her power set and she was itching to tell them all, but that would take a while, and she could recognise that she was kinda butchering her explications right now, so she could at least wait until she was calm enough to do it properly. In any case, even more than she wanted to explain her powers, she really, really, wanted to hear about her team teammates'.

"Um, there’s lots and lots of things I can do with my powers but it will take a long time to explain them all…"

Tandem had intended to leave it at that, but was struck by a brilliant idea.

She dismissed and reconjured the clone she was using to interact with her teammates, repositioning it such that its back was pointed towards the adults. Then leaning in conspiratorially, Tandem created a fold in her poncho reaching into it as though she were the world's most conspicuous drug dealer reaching into their coat. She conjured several bags of confectioneries to her hand.

"Anyone want some candy?"

Tandem stored a bag to replace it with another, cycling through to show off her impressive collection. Technically speaking all of it was stolen, but that probably didn’t matter; it wasn’t like she could return it now or would even if she could for that matter.

Parahumans: Earth Drega

Tandems | PRT Headquarters, 8:46AM
June 19, 2021

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Upon arriving outside the meeting room, Ashley briefly contemplated using her power to conjure a clone directly into the room. A moment’s consideration later and she'd scrapped the idea; while she was pretty confident the stunt would make for a good first impression if she could pull it off, that was easier said than done. Without a decent level of familiarity with the layout of the room in question – not to mention the locations of the people inside it – there was a substantial risk she'd end up teleporting somewhere awkward, which would make for a decidedly less good first impression. Oh well, there would be opportunities to show off her powers, and more importantly, to see her teammates’ powers, soon enough.

If anything, despite already being a bit late, the moment Ashley spent loitering outside the room, was somewhat of a blessing in disguise. It gave her the chance to check everything was in order, and in doing so, realise she'd forgotten to put her mask on when she'd left the dorms. She was absolutely going to get chewed out for that later – no doubt dozens of people had seen her blinking down the halls completely unmasked, not to mention the guy whose office she’d accidentally teleported into while trying to shortcut across floors – but getting yelled at could wait until later. Besides, as far as Ashley was concerned, it really shouldn’t have mattered in the first place whether or not she wore it, the veneer of plausible deniability that had been built up around her identity was so thin it was probably transparent, though PR emphatically refused to listen to reason on that point.

Slipping on her mask Tandem copied herself twice over, dismissing her remaining unmasked self in the process, and then stepped into the meeting room. She was quick to recognise the three Protectorate capes present; Axiom – the local Protectorate branch’s resident tinker and the hero that had inducted Tandem into the Wards – Nightstalker – Bridgewater’s preeminent monster cape – and Grandmaster – quite possibly the strongest cape in the city and the leader of the Bridgewater Protectorate. Tandem had seen all three of the older capes in action at one point or another over her own five years as a cape, multiple times even, but that didn’t change how cool it was to be in the same room as so many interesting people.

Speaking of interesting people…

Tandem turned her attentions towards her fellow Wards, excitement building up between her copies.

One of her selves quickly locked on to the tinker looking cape, currently engaged in conversation with Axiom – a tinker conversation perhaps. She promptly identified the Ward as most likely being Wattson. Her thing was making stuff that let her turn invisible, right? Or at least that was the obvious and/or PR approved aspect of her creations – as far as Tandem understood it, Tinker's were rarely so limited in scope, though what additional range of technology the Ward might be able to employ she could only guess at. Tandem wondered if her own thinker ability would help her use or understand the other Ward's technology; she’d never gotten the opportunity to inventory tinker tech before and was eager to find out. Even if she couldn't it'd definitely be worth asking Wattson about it – despite the maximum size of objects Tandem could store being fairly limited, she imagined there'd still be plenty of devices that her inventory could store which would otherwise be too cumbersome to bring into the field, and more importantly, she really wanted to see what her power made of the tech, even if it couldn’t help her use it.

While one instance of Tandem was observing Wattson, another Tandem’s interest had immediately been drawn to the large bird(?) creature. Right… She'd heard there was a bird monster on the team, not to mention having followed the rumoured sightings of the cape when he'd first showed up. Moonnin of something, whatever that meant. In any case, hearing a drunk vagrant ranting about Bridgewater’s Mothman was entirely different from actually seeing the guy in person. He had to be like 20 feet tall! Actually, was she even sure it was a guy? She’d kind of assumed it was but she wasn’t sure. Shifting her gaze downwards failed to provide Tandem with any insights – not that she knew what bird person genitals were supposed to look like in the first place – should she just ask them?

The third Tandem split her attention between two other Wards, whom she mentally labelled Hood 1 and Hood 2, based on the shared design element between their costumes. Did PR like hoods? Should she get one as well? Tandem was pretty certain that one of the hooded capes was Richter – one of the other live-in Wards who she hadn’t really interacted with much – and since the remaining hooded cape didn’t particularly look like a bee she figured they were probably either Ethos or Keystone. Why did everyone have to make things difficult for her by choosing really obscure names for themselves?

The Tandem examining the Muninn shifted its attention to the girl that was speaking to him. It was Faith she realised – or rather Decree while she was in costume – another one of the live-in Wards and for the time being Tandem’s only cape friend, though she hoped for that last part to change shortly. Faith was probably the least interesting cape in the room right now, if only because Tandem already knew what her power was and had had several opportunities to train with her, but still she was nice and the presence of a familiar face was somewhat comforting if anything.

Her scan of the room's occupants completed Tandem wondered if she should go up and introduce herself to some of her teammates. Already dozens of questions for her fellow Ward’s had begun to bubble up within Tandem’s shared minds.

Still, would it really be a good idea to just approach an unknown parahuman? One of the ways she’d kept herself alive and out of any gangs until recently was by being cautious – a process that absolutely didn’t include approaching several parahumans, who’s powers she didn’t know, in a setting within which she couldn’t easily run. Tandem supposed it might be okay since they were all meant to be teammates and heroes, but she also knew they were letting former villains onto the team – it was perfectly plausible that one or more of the new Wards was still secretly a member of some other gang, and was planning on bombing the room or using a shaker power to eliminate the new Wards team and cripple the local Protectorate. Or maybe one of them had been mastered or was just a master projection. Or any number of other horrifying prospects for that matter.

One of Tandem’s clones blinked out to be promptly replaced by a new one in one of the rooms far corners, a moment later she repeated the action with a different clone on the other side of the room. She was about to repeat the manoeuvre with her third clone when she thought of a better idea and instead shunted it to the floor below. The new clone ended up appearing in a relatively quiet hallway where it promptly took a seat near the edge of her range; that got it a few odd looks, but it wasn’t like she wasn’t also where she was supposed to be, and bomb threats were serious business so Tandem ignored the stares.

Thinking about it, she had introduced herself to Decree, which had gone fine, but no, that in itself was probably appropriate caution given the scenario – that was a parahuman living in close proximity to her, for all she’d known Decree could have had the power to slowly give you cancer or master you by spending enough time near you, actually that second one was pretty close to her actual power…

Shaking one of her heads, Tandem unanimously decided that now probably wasn’t the time to introduce herself to her fellow Wards, even if at the same time she really, really wanted to do so. No, she’d at least wait until she had a better idea of what she was dealing with, which would hopefully be very soon.

And if things broke down before then she’d make a beeline between floors until she was out of the building and then lay low until things cooled off. Tandem briefly contemplated slicking the floor with lubricant and ball bearings and blocking barricading the door with sandbags in the event that her escape became necessary, but quickly realised that unless everyone in the room turned out to have been mastered or to be part of a gang, that was off the table. And if it did turn out that everyone was secretly her enemy, then she should probably just drop a bomb before running… wait no it’d be wrong to do that to someone that’d been mastered and there were plenty of ways good people could be forced into gangs, not to mention the probably innocent civilians in the surrounding rooms.

Tandem settled herself in, fidgeting impatiently, her several pairs of eyes looking out for threats while she continued to ponder escape plans and waited for the meeting to actually get started. Perhaps if it were only one enemy she could throw a bowling ball at their head? Maybe not, she wasn’t meant to have those, maybe a manhole cover or one of the weights she’d stolen from the gym then…

Tandem was still pondering the matter several minutes later, when something interesting finally happened. Axiom producing a tinker tech cube, which she quickly demonstrated to be a storage device of some kind. Tandem wondered if it worked similarly to her own ability… some tinkers took inspiration from other capes right? So it was entirely possible Axiom had based the design off- the Tandem in the hallway shuddered as she pushed any thoughts of her cluster mate from their minds.

The things that’d been stored in the cube turned out to be more tinker tech, devices to protect against master effects according to Axiom. Did they work against all master effect? Would they mess with her ability to coordinate herselves? What would her thinker power make of it?

Tandem briefly wondered if she’d be able to spin things in order to get her hands on three of the devices since she had the bodies, but somewhat dejectedly realised she’d pretty thoroughly explained how her instances worked – why had she done that!? In any case she’d be able to create three instances of the device at least, so she should be able to keep on in storage for her power to analyse, provided she was willing to leave on of her clones unprotected that was, which if anything might be the right play – at least until she could be certain they weren’t secretly tinker tech bombs or mastering devices or something like that. Tandem felt pretty confident that Axiom was trustworthy and probably wasn’t secretly part of a gang, but caution was the name of the game.

Before Tandem could get her hands on the tinker tech and Axiom could finish explaining the function of its casing they were interrupted by a loud bang as the door was kicked open. Both Tandem’s in the room startled at the sound, and the instance that had still been fixated on security very almost tried to drop several litres of paint on the newcomer before initiating its escape plan, only barely being stopped by the Tandem in the hallway who’d been spared the brunt of the panic by virtue of separation.

As the hallway instance mentally offloaded some of her other selves’ anxiety onto herself, those in the meeting space identified the newcomer as the remaining live-in Ward, Shattercrash, even as the girl announced as much herself. Tandem couldn’t say she knew much about the girl other than having a vague idea of her power and that she was kind of intimidating. She’d tried to question the girl a couple of times previously, but not wanting to cause team friction, ended up retreating each time when she’d gotten the distinct impression she was about to get glassed.

Tentatively Tandem returned to what she was doing, one of her clones vanishing to be replaced by a new, far calmer copy, in proximity of Axiom, while her other instance returned to scanning for threats, its efforts only enhanced by the lingering panic.

Parahumans: Earth Drega

'Tandem'

Tandem

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Name: Ashley Witt

Cape Codename: Tandem (formerly Duplicate)

Age: 13

Appearance: Ashley possesses a scrawny build believed to be the result of nutritional deficiencies brought on by an interaction with her parahuman abilities (see Tandem Diet). As of June 10, 2021, Ashley is 148 cm tall and weighs 31kg (up from 28kg at the time of joining the Wards program).

Out of costume Ashley primarily dresses in standard issue live-in ward attire, showing little by way of individuality or personal style through her clothing. Ashley’s stated priority when dressing herself is practicality, however, this practicality to Ashley seems primarily to refer to comfort and ease of access and she has indicated pockets being useless to her on account of her power set.

Ashley has also been noted to wear her costume outside of fieldwork, either partially or in entirety. She has been instructed to stop doing this.

PR Note: I get that her identity isn't exactly the easiest thing to keep secret, with her power and history, but does this kid just not understand the concept of a secret identity?

Costume

PR Note: Kid really screwed us on this one. Apparently, when we told her as a Ward she’d be need to wear a costume, she took that to mean she should make her own and then reveal it and along with her new alias, in a very public manner all without informing any of us. I suppose it isn’t the biggest disaster amongst this new lot of Wards, or even with the kid herself, but still, could she have not just make this one thing easy on us? We'd already gotten the first draft of her costume done.

Parahuman Abilities

Power Classification: Cluster Trigger; Master 2/Mover 3 | Striker 2/Shaker 2/Thinker 1

Consistent with other members of her cluster (see Bank Cluster) Ashley expresses a primary ability (see Instancing) alongside a secondary ability bearing aspects of her cluster mates primary abilities (see Inventory). As with 'Simulacrum' – and in all likelihood 'Collateral', Ashley is a Noctis Cape.

Primary Ability: 'Instancing'

'Tandem’s' primary power involves the creation of clones which are identical to the instance of her from which they were copied at the moment of creation, but which may diverge from there. Clones have been observed to share proprioception and awareness of each other’s thoughts and have not demonstrated notable difficulty with coordinating with one another.

'Tandem' may freely create or dismiss her clones anywhere within 24 ft. of an existing clone, up to a maximum of 3 or down to a minimum of 2. If a clone ends up further than 24 ft. from all other existing clones, it is dismissed, in the case where multiple clones would end up too far apart a random clone is dismissed. If dismissal of a clone would result in 'Tandem’s' number of active clones dropping to 1, a new clone is instantly created in a random unoccupied space within 12 ft. of 'Tandem'.

Objects weighing up to 68kg, that 'Tandem' is wearing or holding at the time she creates a clone may be duplicated with that clone – the new instance of the object is considered tied to the new clone, while the original becomes tied to the clone that was used as a template. When a clone is dismissed, objects tied to that clone disappear with them, unless that object is the last remaining instance of itself in which case it is considered 'the original' and remains. (Note: Do not have an instance of 'Tandem' consume something and then dismiss itself without first creating another clone).

It is of note that this ability is significantly morbidity limited, though unable to affect living matter other than 'Tandem' herself. In particular, 'Tandem’s' ability to clone herself, does not replicate her microbiome causing several Gastrointestinal issues unless specific dietary protocols are maintained (see Tandem Diet).

Secondary Ability: 'Inventory'

'Tandem’s' secondary power involves the storage and retrieval of objects fitting within a 2.3ft radius sphere. Storage of objects requires 'Tandem' to be in physical contact with the object, however once stored an object can be returned to any location within 14 ft and in any configuration that the object in question may freely assume. Objects stored do not seem to observe the passage of time.

Objects exiting 'Tandem’s' power must be tied to the momentum of some part of 'Tandem' herself, though she is freely able to determine at which point along her body this occurs. 'Tandem’s' most notable use of this feature seems to be in “throwing” objects that would otherwise be too heavy for her to lift at relatively high speeds. In light of this ability, requests from 'Tandem' for “2-foot wide metal spheres” or other objects with potentially similar destructive capabilities are to be denied.

'Tandem' passively builds up an idea of how to use objects she has stored over time. This thinker aspect of the power relates solely to the potential uses and manipulations of objects stored in a purely physical sense, irrespective of their intended uses or functionality. For example, Tandem could learn how to pick a lock or operate a phone by storing the relevant items in her 'Inventory' but by storing something like a chess set, she’d learn how to effectively throw chess pieces, but not how to play chess. 'Tandem’s' power does account for her own powers as manipulations, and in fact, many of 'Tandem’s' favoured strategies involve placing items beneath the feet of her opponent or dropping them directly upon them.

It is also worth noting, that while 'Tandem' can attempt to retrieve items via vague parameters, she possesses no intrinsic knowledge as to the objects she is storing, making it possible for her to lose items should she forget she has stored them or to believe she has access to materials she does not.

While the exact method/location by which 'Tandem' stores matter remains unidentified, it has been confirmed that 'Tandem’s' storage is shared across her various instances without duplication. Objects stored by 'Tandem’ do not seem to be notably affected by the passage of time. While this ability is morbidity-limited, it does not seem to have as stringent limitations as 'Tandem’s' primary ability – objects stored by 'Tandem' appear to maintain their microbiomes.

Cross Power Interactions

Both of 'Tandem’s' abilities deal with the intersection of objects by instantaneously displacing the less massive object into the nearest available space; if this would cause a new intersection the same effect occurs, which may result in a cascading effect, though this effect always resolves to place Tandem within range of her other clones and move the least amount of matter possible.

While 'Tandem’s' Instancing and Inventory abilities bear a superficial resemblance to one another and in fact bear a number of similarities in the mechanics underlying their use, it should be noted that based on current speculation – corroborated by both tinker and thinker observation – it is believed that both powers utilise entirely different physics in their operation – believed to be matter replication and dimensional spaces respectively.

Power Notes

Note 1: As 'Tandem’s' power results in her constantly possessing multiple bodies in close proximity to one another, attempts to develop a civilian identity for the Ward have proven largely unsuccessful, even ignoring the continuing online circulation of images of 'Tandem' out of costume.

Note 2: When questioned as to the potential presence of unauthorised materials in her 'inventory' 'Tandem' routinely dodges the question or else claims that most items can be used as weapons, only denying accusations when pressed on the matter. It is subsequently, believed that 'Tandem' is carrying several deadly weapons in direct violation of her probation – potentially including IEDs and firearms, based on past interactions. As no evidence currently exists to prove 'Tandem’s' guilt and she has shown no intentions of using any such devices, the matter has been designated a low-priority issue.

Note 3: Ashley has indicated that her instancing ability can be used to perform chemistry that would not be possible within conventional physics (see Instanced Chemistry). Ashley has been instructed not to experiment with this ability without professional oversight. Investigation into the utility of this interaction is pending.

Psychological Evaluation

Personality: Ashley at a glance is brash and impulsive, typically seeming to act without too much prior thought. Digging a little deeper, one will find that Ashley is not quite as impulsive as she might first appear, and is in fact paranoid and cautious to a frankly concerning degree, constantly analysing and planning for the worst possible scenarios she can imagine.

Ashley holds little regard for social convention or systems of authority; though she can effectively be reasoned with, she consistently disregards decisions she perceives as being made on authority alone. She seems to possess a strong desire to help people, though apparently does not extend this desire to larger institutions or systems.

Ashley is generally curious and seems to have developed a strong fixation on Parahuman abilities as is common among very young triggers. While at the time of writing, Ashley’s fixation seems to be largely sated by access to her fellow Wards and PRT casefiles, it is worth keeping in mind that it was this fixation that fuelled the majority of her Parahuman interactions as 'Duplicate' and caution should be taken when letting her interact with outside Parahuman’s in the field.

Ashley appears to have a very strong Kiss/Kill derived hatred for her cluster mates, including the now deceased Ward 'Simulacrum'.

Strengths:

Experienced: Ashley has far more experience as a cape than is common for a ward. While Ashley has only been a parahuman for 5 years, the nature of her ability and lack of a civilian identity, have resulted in her gaining far more experience in that time than would be usual.

Power Application: Ashley has demonstrated somewhat of an obsession with the mechanics and application of parahuman abilities. In particular, Ashley has shown herself to be skilled at figuring out ways powers could theoretically be used and applying such techniques.

Weaknesses:

Disregard for Authority: Ashley has demonstrated a strong distaste for being told what to do by authority figures and has a tendency to disregard orders outright. Tends to respond more favourably when included in planning or after having orders explained, though this risks reinforcing negative behaviours and should be avoided unless compliance is paramount.

Paranoia: Ashley has displayed a somewhat concerning degree of paranoia. By her own admission, she is near constantly trying to identify potential obstacles or threats and develop means to counteract them. Ashley has been observed brainstorming hazards.

As similar 'Simulacrum' was documented to exhibit similar behavioural patterns, this behaviour may be the result of personality bleed from their shared trigger or a side effect of the thinker aspect of their secondary abilities. Furthermore, based on 'Simulacrum’s' psychological profile, it is possible that Ashley fundamentally lacks the capacity to feel safe.

Disrupted Education: Did failed to attend school during the 5 years between her trigger event and joining the wards program. Ashley has significant educational deficits.

Ashley seems to have somewhat of a complex against being perceived as stupid and tends to avoid situations where such scenarios might arise.

Power Reliance: Ashley has developed somewhat of a reliance on using her powers. Solutions Ashley employs almost always involve applying her Parahuman abilities, even when mundane means would be standard or superior.

History

July 11, 2016, 2:15pm: A mass hostage situation broke out during a failed bank robbery orchestrated by MSM gang members (see Main Street Maniacs). At 4:02pm, after a protracted standoff with PRT officers, civilians Adam Witt, Alice Witt, and ███████████ were murdered by the villain 'Migraine' (see Migraine), resulting in three simultaneous civilian trigger events (see Bank Cluster). Following the trigger events, PRT troopers were able to move in and arrest the MSM capes without suffering further civilian casualties.

July 13, 2016: A recently triggered parahuman approached PRT looking for help. Parahuman was successfully inducted as a Ward and given the codename 'Simulacrum' (see Simulacrum). Later confirmed to be a member of the Bank Cluster.

July 15, 2016: PRT agents were called in to deal with a homeless parahuman child attempting to pull off a string of petty thefts. The suspect identified themselves as 'Duplicate' (see Tandem) and displayed obvious parahuman abilities but made no attempt to hide their identity. Comparison with surveillance footage confirmed 'Duplicate’s' identity as the second member of the Bank Cluster, having triggered after her parents were murdered. 'Duplicate' seemed initially receptive to the idea of joining the wards but declined when informed one of her cluster mates had joined. As her crimes have consisted solely of petty misdemeanours and she has shown an aversion to violent crime, 'Duplicate' has been assessed as a low threat and recruitment is to be prioritised.

August 2, 2016: An as-of-yet unknown villain attacked a PRT transport vehicle transporting the villains 'Jackle Lantern' (see Jackle Lantern) and 'Migraine', resulting in the deaths of both captured villains and the transporting staff onboard. The attacking villain later identified themself as 'Collateral' (see Collateral), during a string of violent crimes. Strongly suspected to be the third member of the Bank Cluster. No attempt at recruitment made.

March 3, 2017, 1:30pm: An altercation broke out between parahumans 'Simulacrum', 'Collateral', and 'Duplicate'. The fight is believed to have been orchestrated by 'Collateral' and incurred significant damage to civilian infrastructure and resulted in the death of Ward 'Simulacrum' at the hands of 'Duplicate'. Following the incident 'Collateral' is confirmed to have fled the city, while 'Duplicate' is believed to have gone into hiding. (See Rook Street Incident)

Confessor Incident (2020): 'Duplicate' noted to have taken an active role in assisting civilians during and after the Confessor Incident.

April 26, 2021: 'Duplicate' approached 'Axom' with intentions of joining the Wards program, apparently concerned by increasing pressure from other villains to join a gang. In light of her role in assisting during the Collateral Incident, and due to her relatively clean criminal record – barring the Rook Street Incident, which has been determined to have been complicated by Kiss/Kill dynamic between involved capes.

May 1, 2021: 'Duplicate' was officially brought on as a probationary member of the Bridgewater Wards. Following this, 'Duplicate' has been provided with a costume and rebranded as 'Tandem' and reintroduced to the public.

Parahumans: Earth Drega

PRT HQ Ward Quarters, 8:42AM
June 19, 2021

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The lock body shifted slightly under the sudden change in weight, its core suddenly appearing next to it – shunted there in an instant as its former location was occupied by a small tungsten cylinder. A moment later with nothing to hold it in place, the cylinder too slid out of the lock body.

Ashley – the Ashley that had just used her power to dismantle a lock – gave a self-satisfied nod towards her handiwork, even as another instance of herself branched off from her, briefly popping into existence within arm’s reach of the lock parts to collect them and the conjured cylinder, before popping back out of reality as fast as she’d come. She’d been getting more accurate with that trick, faster too, which in Ashley's mind was as good a reason as any to get excited, even if she didn’t think it was likely this particular trick would ever come in handy – she already had plenty of ways to bypass locks after all, ways that were both quicker and easier, and the need to quickly dismantle a lock from range didn’t seem all that likely to come up.

In any case, it could never hurt to have more tricks up her sleeve. Something being unlikely to happen was different from something being unable to happen, and for all she knew, something about this one trick could save her arse someday. Besides, it wasn’t like she wasn’t working on other things; annoying restrictions aside, if there was one advantage to having joined the Wards, it was the access to resources she now enjoyed. Ball bearings, caltrops, lubricants, ropes, collapsible spike strips, the list went on.

It wasn’t perfect, they were dragging their feet on Ashley’s requests for containment foam, and they’d flat-out rejected her requests for cannonballs and explosives, even after she’d told them she didn’t plan to use them – were the heroes incapable of understanding the concept of preparedness? What if another threat like Confessor showed up, or there was an Endbringer attack, or Collateral returned to Bridgewater?

The only reason Ashley wasn’t working on one of the more useful new possibilities that had opened up to her right now, was that the Protectorate got weird about it whenever she tried to use the training facilities without supervision or had to wake someone up to watch her, and they got really weird about it whenever she suggested she just go practice outside if the training facilities were off limits. Speaking of…

Across the room, another instance of Ashley glanced down to look at the mobile phone that had appeared in her hand. 12:59… that didn’t seem right. Pointlessly she shook the phone, and a moment later the display updated itself to read 8:44 as the phone managed to reconnect to the internet, and a coming through just a second later, apparently to remind her of the impending Wards meeting. Right, she wasn’t supposed to put this thing in her inventory, was she? Honestly, managing the device seemed like more of a pain than it was worth, even if access to the internet was nice.

Whatever, the phone wasn't important right now. What was important was that she was cutting it really fine to make it to that meeting on time! Not that Ashley particularly cared about being punctual as a rule of thumb – at least not in cases where the circumstances weren't time-sensitive – but she really really really wanted to meet her fellow Wards! And now she might be late!

Familiar enough with the layout of the building after a month of exploring and living in the place, Ashley didn’t bother with the door, instead simply shunting the phone back into her inventory and creating another instance of herself on the other side of the wall. A moment later both the clones in the room were gone and second Ashley had appeared outside, immediately setting off with its twin towards the meeting room.

Children of the Otherworld - An Isekai Story

How go things?

Parahumans: Earth Drega

'Tandem'

Tandem

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Name: Ashley Witt

Cape Codename: Tandem (formerly Duplicate)

Age: 13

Appearance: Ashley possesses a scrawny build believed to be the result of nutritional deficiencies brought on by an interaction with her parahuman abilities (see Tandem Diet). As of June 10, 2021, Ashley is 148 cm tall and weighs 31kg (up from 28kg at the time of joining the Wards program).

Out of costume Ashley primarily dresses in standard issue live-in ward attire, showing little by way of individuality or personal style through her clothing. Ashley’s stated priority when dressing herself is practicality, however, this practicality to Ashley seems primarily to refer to comfort and ease of access and she has indicated pockets being useless to her on account of her power set.

Ashley has also been noted to wear her costume outside of fieldwork, either partially or in entirety. She has been instructed to stop doing this.

PR Note: I get that her identity isn't exactly the easiest thing to keep secret, with her power and history, but does this kid just not understand the concept of a secret identity?

Costume

PR Note: Kid really screwed us on this one. Apparently, when we told her as a Ward she’d be need to wear a costume, she took that to mean she should make her own and then reveal it and along with her new alias, in a very public manner all without informing any of us. I suppose it isn’t the biggest disaster amongst this new lot of Wards, or even with the kid herself, but still, could she have not just make this one thing easy on us? We'd already gotten the first draft of her costume done.

Parahuman Abilities

Power Classification: Cluster Trigger; Master 2/Mover 3 | Striker 2/Shaker 2/Thinker 1

Consistent with other members of her cluster (see Bank Cluster) Ashley expresses a primary ability (see Instancing) alongside a secondary ability bearing aspects of her cluster mates primary abilities (see Inventory). As with 'Simulacrum' – and in all likelihood 'Collateral', Ashley is a Noctis Cape.

Primary Ability: 'Instancing'

'Tandem’s' primary power involves the creation of clones which are identical to the instance of her from which they were copied at the moment of creation, but which may diverge from there. Clones have been observed to share proprioception and awareness of each other’s thoughts and have not demonstrated notable difficulty with coordinating with one another.

'Tandem' may freely create or dismiss her clones anywhere within 24 ft. of an existing clone, up to a maximum of 3 or down to a minimum of 2. If a clone ends up further than 24 ft. from all other existing clones, it is dismissed, in the case where multiple clones would end up too far apart a random clone is dismissed. If dismissal of a clone would result in 'Tandem’s' number of active clones dropping to 1, a new clone is instantly created in a random unoccupied space within 12 ft. of 'Tandem'.

Objects weighing up to 68kg, that 'Tandem' is wearing or holding at the time she creates a clone may be duplicated with that clone – the new instance of the object is considered tied to the new clone, while the original becomes tied to the clone that was used as a template. When a clone is dismissed, objects tied to that clone disappear with them, unless that object is the last remaining instance of itself in which case it is considered 'the original' and remains. (Note: Do not have an instance of 'Tandem' consume something and then dismiss itself without first creating another clone).

It is of note that this ability is significantly morbidity limited, though unable to affect living matter other than 'Tandem' herself. In particular, 'Tandem’s' ability to clone herself, does not replicate her microbiome causing several Gastrointestinal issues unless specific dietary protocols are maintained (see Tandem Diet).

Secondary Ability: 'Inventory'

'Tandem’s' secondary power involves the storage and retrieval of objects fitting within a 2.3ft radius sphere. Storage of objects requires 'Tandem' to be in physical contact with the object, however once stored an object can be returned to any location within 14 ft and in any configuration that the object in question may freely assume. Objects stored do not seem to observe the passage of time.

Objects exiting 'Tandem’s' power must be tied to the momentum of some part of 'Tandem' herself, though she is freely able to determine at which point along her body this occurs. 'Tandem’s' most notable use of this feature seems to be in “throwing” objects that would otherwise be too heavy for her to lift at relatively high speeds. In light of this ability, requests from 'Tandem' for “2-foot wide metal spheres” or other objects with potentially similar destructive capabilities are to be denied.

'Tandem' passively builds up an idea of how to use objects she has stored over time. This thinker aspect of the power relates solely to the potential uses and manipulations of objects stored in a purely physical sense, irrespective of their intended uses or functionality. For example, Tandem could learn how to pick a lock or operate a phone by storing the relevant items in her 'Inventory' but by storing something like a chess set, she’d learn how to effectively throw chess pieces, but not how to play chess. 'Tandem’s' power does account for her own powers as manipulations, and in fact, many of 'Tandem’s' favoured strategies involve placing items beneath the feet of her opponent or dropping them directly upon them.

It is also worth noting, that while 'Tandem' can attempt to retrieve items via vague parameters, she possesses no intrinsic knowledge as to the objects she is storing, making it possible for her to lose items should she forget she has stored them or to believe she has access to materials she does not.

While the exact method/location by which 'Tandem' stores matter remains unidentified, it has been confirmed that 'Tandem’s' storage is shared across her various instances without duplication. Objects stored by 'Tandem’ do not seem to be notably affected by the passage of time. While this ability is morbidity-limited, it does not seem to have as stringent limitations as 'Tandem’s' primary ability – objects stored by 'Tandem' appear to maintain their microbiomes.

Cross Power Interactions

Both of 'Tandem’s' abilities deal with the intersection of objects by instantaneously displacing the less massive object into the nearest available space; if this would cause a new intersection the same effect occurs, which may result in a cascading effect, though this effect always resolves to place Tandem within range of her other clones and move the least amount of matter possible.

While 'Tandem’s' Instancing and Inventory abilities bear a superficial resemblance to one another and in fact bear a number of similarities in the mechanics underlying their use, it should be noted that based on current speculation – corroborated by both tinker and thinker observation – it is believed that both powers utilise entirely different physics in their operation – believed to be matter replication and dimensional spaces respectively.

Power Notes

Note 1: As 'Tandem’s' power results in her constantly possessing multiple bodies in close proximity to one another, attempts to develop a civilian identity for the Ward have proven largely unsuccessful, even ignoring the continuing online circulation of images of 'Tandem' out of costume.

Note 2: When questioned as to the potential presence of unauthorised materials in her 'inventory' 'Tandem' routinely dodges the question or else claims that most items can be used as weapons, only denying accusations when pressed on the matter. It is subsequently, believed that 'Tandem' is carrying several deadly weapons in direct violation of her probation – potentially including IEDs and firearms, based on past interactions. As no evidence currently exists to prove 'Tandem’s' guilt and she has shown no intentions of using any such devices, the matter has been designated a low-priority issue.

Note 3: Ashley has indicated that her instancing ability can be used to perform chemistry that would not be possible within conventional physics (see Instanced Chemistry). Ashley has been instructed not to experiment with this ability without professional oversight. Investigation into the utility of this interaction is pending.

Psychological Evaluation

Personality: Ashley at a glance is brash and impulsive, typically seeming to act without too much prior thought. Digging a little deeper, one will find that Ashley is not quite as impulsive as she might first appear, and is in fact paranoid and cautious to a frankly concerning degree, constantly analysing and planning for the worst possible scenarios she can imagine.

Ashley holds little regard for social convention or systems of authority; though she can effectively be reasoned with, she consistently disregards decisions she perceives as being made on authority alone. She seems to possess a strong desire to help people, though apparently does not extend this desire to larger institutions or systems.

Ashley is generally curious and seems to have developed a strong fixation on Parahuman abilities as is common among very young triggers. While at the time of writing, Ashley’s fixation seems to be largely sated by access to her fellow Wards and PRT casefiles, it is worth keeping in mind that it was this fixation that fuelled the majority of her Parahuman interactions as 'Duplicate' and caution should be taken when letting her interact with outside Parahuman’s in the field.

Ashley appears to have a very strong Kiss/Kill derived hatred for her cluster mates, including the now deceased Ward 'Simulacrum'.

Strengths:

Experienced: Ashley has far more experience as a cape than is common for a ward. While Ashley has only been a parahuman for 5 years, the nature of her ability and lack of a civilian identity, have resulted in her gaining far more experience in that time than would be usual.

Power Application: Ashley has demonstrated somewhat of an obsession with the mechanics and application of parahuman abilities. In particular, Ashley has shown herself to be skilled at figuring out ways powers could theoretically be used and applying such techniques.

Weaknesses:

Disregard for Authority: Ashley has demonstrated a strong distaste for being told what to do by authority figures and has a tendency to disregard orders outright. Tends to respond more favourably when included in planning or after having orders explained, though this risks reinforcing negative behaviours and should be avoided unless compliance is paramount.

Paranoia: Ashley has displayed a somewhat concerning degree of paranoia. By her own admission, she is near constantly trying to identify potential obstacles or threats and develop means to counteract them. Ashley has been observed brainstorming hazards.

As similar 'Simulacrum' was documented to exhibit similar behavioural patterns, this behaviour may be the result of personality bleed from their shared trigger or a side effect of the thinker aspect of their secondary abilities. Furthermore, based on 'Simulacrum’s' psychological profile, it is possible that Ashley fundamentally lacks the capacity to feel safe.

Disrupted Education: Did failed to attend school during the 5 years between her trigger event and joining the wards program. Ashley has significant educational deficits.

Ashley seems to have somewhat of a complex against being perceived as stupid and tends to avoid situations where such scenarios might arise.

Power Reliance: Ashley has developed somewhat of a reliance on using her powers. Solutions Ashley employs almost always involve applying her Parahuman abilities, even when mundane means would be standard or superior.

History

July 11, 2016, 2:15pm: A mass hostage situation broke out during a failed bank robbery orchestrated by MSM gang members (see Main Street Maniacs). At 4:02pm, after a protracted standoff with PRT officers, civilians Adam Witt, Alice Witt, and ███████████ were murdered by the villain 'Migraine' (see Migraine), resulting in three simultaneous civilian trigger events (see Bank Cluster). Following the trigger events, PRT troopers were able to move in and arrest the MSM capes without suffering further civilian casualties.

July 13, 2016: A recently triggered parahuman approached PRT looking for help. Parahuman was successfully inducted as a Ward and given the codename 'Simulacrum' (see Simulacrum). Later confirmed to be a member of the Bank Cluster.

July 15, 2016: PRT agents were called in to deal with a homeless parahuman child attempting to pull off a string of petty thefts. The suspect identified themselves as 'Duplicate' (see Tandem) and displayed obvious parahuman abilities but made no attempt to hide their identity. Comparison with surveillance footage confirmed 'Duplicate’s' identity as the second member of the Bank Cluster, having triggered after her parents were murdered. 'Duplicate' seemed initially receptive to the idea of joining the wards but declined when informed one of her cluster mates had joined. As her crimes have consisted solely of petty misdemeanours and she has shown an aversion to violent crime, 'Duplicate' has been assessed as a low threat and recruitment is to be prioritised.

August 2, 2016: An as-of-yet unknown villain attacked a PRT transport vehicle transporting the villains 'Jackle Lantern' (see Jackle Lantern) and 'Migraine', resulting in the deaths of both captured villains and the transporting staff onboard. The attacking villain later identified themself as 'Collateral' (see Collateral), during a string of violent crimes. Strongly suspected to be the third member of the Bank Cluster. No attempt at recruitment made.

March 3, 2017, 1:30pm: An altercation broke out between parahumans 'Simulacrum', 'Collateral', and 'Duplicate'. The fight is believed to have been orchestrated by 'Collateral' and incurred significant damage to civilian infrastructure and resulted in the death of Ward 'Simulacrum' at the hands of 'Duplicate'. Following the incident 'Collateral' is confirmed to have fled the city, while 'Duplicate' is believed to have gone into hiding. (See Rook Street Incident)

Confessor Incident (2020): 'Duplicate' noted to have taken an active role in assisting civilians during and after the Confessor Incident.

April 26, 2021: 'Duplicate' approached 'Axom' with intentions of joining the Wards program, apparently concerned by increasing pressure from other villains to join a gang. In light of her role in assisting during the Collateral Incident, and due to her relatively clean criminal record – barring the Rook Street Incident, which has been determined to have been complicated by Kiss/Kill dynamic between involved capes.

May 1, 2021: 'Duplicate' was officially brought on as a probationary member of the Bridgewater Wards. Following this, 'Duplicate' has been provided with a costume and rebranded as 'Tandem' and reintroduced to the public.

Children of the Otherworld - An Isekai Story

Double posting? Do you truly feel so little shame as to make such deviancies seem acceptable? I swear, the world is going to shit these days…

Anyway, thanks for the post. I liked it.

Children of the Otherworld - An Isekai Story

To those of you were having cold weather, I’ve decided I hate you. It’s 27 degrees here and I feel like I’m dying… tomorrow is meant to hit 38 degrees, so I might actually just die.

Children of the Otherworld - An Isekai Story

Out of curiosity do we have a headcount as to who’s still here? I feel like we’re down a couple of people.