You're supposed to be a genius, why don't you... know things?
More Duplicity! Oh my god these are so much fun. This set introduces a few more characters (some of whom may be familiar >_>), some expositing re: the nature of superpowers, oh, and a note: yes, police camp is a thing.
04 - Separation
I actually think better when I have a couple copies out. There’s a weird mind-flip to it, kind of like rubbing your stomach and patting your head but more so, but I’ve gotten used to it.
My resting number is three, me and two copies. More than that and it takes an active effort to run them. Less, and I start to feel like I’ve got too many thoughts in one head. When I’m actually doing something it’s easier to stay in single-mode. It distracts me from how crowded I feel. But it’s easier to run copies when I’m active, too. In a full-on showdown I can run four or five without even thinking about it. Probably something to do with adrenaline.
This is the kind of thing you have to figure out yourself when you’ve got a power that you’re actually going to use. Even people with the same power as you, their limits will be different, they’ll use it different. You have to know what you can do.
I’m one of the lucky ones. I knew about my power early. Lots of people don’t get theirs- the counselors and scientists and people call it “manifesting”- until middle school, high school. By then I had already figured out my basics. I guess I got kind of a head start that way.
And yes, before you ask, I have. Y’know, tried it. But honestly? It was kind of predictable.
05 - Strength
Doctor Implausible wakes up at six-thirty-two every morning and runs through the same training routine he’s done since he was fourteen.
Well, not the same routine. It’s polished, honed, considerably more challenging. He’s worked just enough variation into it that he can’t get complacent, but it’s enough of a routine to be routine. Which is part of the importance.
He grew up thinking he was going to be a hero. His parents were convinced. Martial arts, Boy Scouts, community service, police camp, they signed him up for anything and everything that might help him when he got his powers. And they took him on tours of every scientific facility they could reach, expecting that sooner or later one of them would, in accordance with the Way These Things Work, explode.
None of them did. But he was fascinated by the science.
That, and his morning routine, are the only things that have stayed with him. He has Reasons for keeping it up. One, he knows the way heroes think, and he knows they never expect the mad scientist to punch them back. Two, the endorphins can replace a couple hours of sleep. And three, it would be stupid not to use a skill he already has. He may be mad (is he mad? When did that happen?) but stupid, he isn’t.
He’s done by eight-seventeen every morning, in plenty of time to have breakfast (orange juice and something with protein in it) and catch up on the news coverage of his latest scheme. Plenty of time for a day of Science and Nefarious Plotting. No time to question how he keeps going.
06 - Initiation
I’m unpacking the last of my new stuff- mostly secondhand- when the video phone goes off. It’s the only thing I went all out on and stole. A villain’s got to have a video phone.
It’s Undertow, one of the city’s big-shot villains, on the other end. And Rockstar, in the background. I hear they’re sort of a team when they’re not trying to kill each other. I wonder how they got my number. And why they’re bothering.
“Hey, new girl,” Undertow says, “we hear it’s your birthday.” Oh- yeah, it is. I totally forgot. On the screen, she grins, kind of manic, definitely evil. “We’re going to take you out drinking!”
Rockstar does a slow take at her. “Wait, what?” I immediately love his voice. It’s deep and gravely- pardon the pun- and pretty quiet, for such a huge guy.
He’s still slow-burning at Undertow. “This is your worst plan ever,” he says. “I don’t drink, and you can’t. And three villains out in public? Are you insane?”
“Yep,” she says cheerfully, and that seems to be the end of that. Rockstar shakes his head, muttering something about being the only one who can think in a straight line. Undertow turns back to the screen. “So how about it, new girl? You in?”
It probably is a bad plan, but two of the biggest villains in Cosmopolis are inviting me somewhere. I grin back. “Yeah, I’m in.”
04 - Separation
I actually think better when I have a couple copies out. There’s a weird mind-flip to it, kind of like rubbing your stomach and patting your head but more so, but I’ve gotten used to it.
My resting number is three, me and two copies. More than that and it takes an active effort to run them. Less, and I start to feel like I’ve got too many thoughts in one head. When I’m actually doing something it’s easier to stay in single-mode. It distracts me from how crowded I feel. But it’s easier to run copies when I’m active, too. In a full-on showdown I can run four or five without even thinking about it. Probably something to do with adrenaline.
This is the kind of thing you have to figure out yourself when you’ve got a power that you’re actually going to use. Even people with the same power as you, their limits will be different, they’ll use it different. You have to know what you can do.
I’m one of the lucky ones. I knew about my power early. Lots of people don’t get theirs- the counselors and scientists and people call it “manifesting”- until middle school, high school. By then I had already figured out my basics. I guess I got kind of a head start that way.
And yes, before you ask, I have. Y’know, tried it. But honestly? It was kind of predictable.
05 - Strength
Doctor Implausible wakes up at six-thirty-two every morning and runs through the same training routine he’s done since he was fourteen.
Well, not the same routine. It’s polished, honed, considerably more challenging. He’s worked just enough variation into it that he can’t get complacent, but it’s enough of a routine to be routine. Which is part of the importance.
He grew up thinking he was going to be a hero. His parents were convinced. Martial arts, Boy Scouts, community service, police camp, they signed him up for anything and everything that might help him when he got his powers. And they took him on tours of every scientific facility they could reach, expecting that sooner or later one of them would, in accordance with the Way These Things Work, explode.
None of them did. But he was fascinated by the science.
That, and his morning routine, are the only things that have stayed with him. He has Reasons for keeping it up. One, he knows the way heroes think, and he knows they never expect the mad scientist to punch them back. Two, the endorphins can replace a couple hours of sleep. And three, it would be stupid not to use a skill he already has. He may be mad (is he mad? When did that happen?) but stupid, he isn’t.
He’s done by eight-seventeen every morning, in plenty of time to have breakfast (orange juice and something with protein in it) and catch up on the news coverage of his latest scheme. Plenty of time for a day of Science and Nefarious Plotting. No time to question how he keeps going.
06 - Initiation
I’m unpacking the last of my new stuff- mostly secondhand- when the video phone goes off. It’s the only thing I went all out on and stole. A villain’s got to have a video phone.
It’s Undertow, one of the city’s big-shot villains, on the other end. And Rockstar, in the background. I hear they’re sort of a team when they’re not trying to kill each other. I wonder how they got my number. And why they’re bothering.
“Hey, new girl,” Undertow says, “we hear it’s your birthday.” Oh- yeah, it is. I totally forgot. On the screen, she grins, kind of manic, definitely evil. “We’re going to take you out drinking!”
Rockstar does a slow take at her. “Wait, what?” I immediately love his voice. It’s deep and gravely- pardon the pun- and pretty quiet, for such a huge guy.
He’s still slow-burning at Undertow. “This is your worst plan ever,” he says. “I don’t drink, and you can’t. And three villains out in public? Are you insane?”
“Yep,” she says cheerfully, and that seems to be the end of that. Rockstar shakes his head, muttering something about being the only one who can think in a straight line. Undertow turns back to the screen. “So how about it, new girl? You in?”
It probably is a bad plan, but two of the biggest villains in Cosmopolis are inviting me somewhere. I grin back. “Yeah, I’m in.”