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Cam is watching a new recording of Atriama, tail swishing in the gap in his couch, and doesn't stop to pause the show when he feels a summons go by.
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from_scratch
"Okay. Stand back, you don't want bits to hit you in the face."
When everyone's out of the way Cam fits a truly uncomfortable quantity of compressed air in Crawler's various interior cavities, not interpolating, just filling to bursting.
When everyone's out of the way Cam fits a truly uncomfortable quantity of compressed air in Crawler's various interior cavities, not interpolating, just filling to bursting.
wormcan
Pressure, even from the inside, is apparently something Crawler has experienced before. The air whooshes out, and the mindless copy doesn't seem to care.
from_scratch
Well, caring wasn't what Cam was after.
"I could take it into space and chuck it into a black hole but I'm not willing to do that on a planet and don't have a great way to get the real one of him to space. You guys are up."
"I could take it into space and chuck it into a black hole but I'm not willing to do that on a planet and don't have a great way to get the real one of him to space. You guys are up."
wormcan
"All right. Three...two...one..."
No one knows in any detail what the weapons they're holding do, but they do know how to make them do it. The Crawler copy goes up in a flash of everything. It ranges from white flash to gray blur. It can be seen regenerating, but by the time the copy can adapt to everything it's already almost gone.
"It...seems like it worked. No margin of error, though. How well can you hold Crawler down?"
No one knows in any detail what the weapons they're holding do, but they do know how to make them do it. The Crawler copy goes up in a flash of everything. It ranges from white flash to gray blur. It can be seen regenerating, but by the time the copy can adapt to everything it's already almost gone.
"It...seems like it worked. No margin of error, though. How well can you hold Crawler down?"
from_scratch
"I didn't get video footage, but I held him in a block of impact gel and concrete for a couple of seconds, longer when I was adding layers but it's now occurred to him to burrow so a couple seconds is probably what we've got."
wormcan
"If it fails, we just made him immune to tinkers around the country. But all this, plus what you tried the first time, we've got a good shot."
from_scratch
"I assume if you had any telekinetics who could get him into space they'd have done it already."
from_scratch
"And I honestly don't know what to do about the Siberian but as long as we're here I might as well make one of her too?"
wormcan
"If anything we have here works, I think we'll all be surprised. But may as well test it."
from_scratch
"Okay -"
...
......
"...Is there any chance the Siberian is made of antimatter or possibly magic?"
...
......
"...Is there any chance the Siberian is made of antimatter or possibly magic?"
wormcan
"Honestly? She may as well be. Immune to everything. Your copying didn't work on her either?"
wormcan
"Antimatter, magic, and whatever the Siberian's made of.
I'd ask about the magic, but we've got a Crawler to kill and one chance to do it."
I'd ask about the magic, but we've got a Crawler to kill and one chance to do it."
from_scratch
"Just means I can't make a fountain of youth or anything. Anything else to cover before we go? Useful swag you want replaced that had glass in it, anything like that?"
wormcan
"Nothing time-sensitive."
They head back toward Crawler, or at least to where the tracking device says he still is.
They head back toward Crawler, or at least to where the tracking device says he still is.
from_scratch
The tracking device is unlikely to have gone anywhere, since to extract it something would have had to get through Crawler.
wormcan
And he's still there.
"We can get him to come out, then hit him? If he thinks the goal is to fight him instead of restrain him he probably won't start by trying to escape."
"We can get him to come out, then hit him? If he thinks the goal is to fight him instead of restrain him he probably won't start by trying to escape."
from_scratch
"Sure. I can try stuff that definitely won't work like dousing him in plasma, pretend I'm slow on the uptake?"
wormcan
"Ideally he wouldn't even know it was you, but plasma is pretty non-distinctive. Everyone ready?
Go."
Go."
from_scratch
Plasma! Plasma all over you, Crawler! (And a protective layer of liquid nitrogen mist so it doesn't set other things on fire.)
wormcan
Crawler reacts predictably, by launching himself out while being both enormous and on fire. Some of the more telekinetic capes slow him down a bit for Cam to trap him, while everyone else takes aim.
from_scratch
Gelconcretegelconcretegelconcrete. It is so helpful of Crawler to be midair so he can be gelconcreted on all sides.
wormcan
On most sides, that is. The near side is getting vaporized by the arsenal of bizarre weaponry as fast as Cam puts it there until he stops doing so. The lead cape flies above Crawler, watching all sides of the cube, while the more offensively equipped squad members concentrate fire on the front.
As the various deadly weapons go off two humanoids charge through the mass. Heroes go down, most of them briefly. The two white figures, one tall and the other enormous, pick apart their opponents to distract as many of them as possible.
As the various deadly weapons go off two humanoids charge through the mass. Heroes go down, most of them briefly. The two white figures, one tall and the other enormous, pick apart their opponents to distract as many of them as possible.
from_scratch
Cam interpolated Crawler with water as soon as the heroes started firing, but now they've got company and he needs to be paying attention to those. The contents of all of Mannequin's compartments can be joined by some lava, maybe he won't even leak - Siberian, um - well, he can try to get some replaceable part of himself between her and something she's trying to get at, see how it fares. Indestructible object, unstoppable force...