DragonHeir

Rebus smiled, having pulled the same sort of trade before. Actually, he’d been running a teleportation network when he’d done it - great minds thought alike, he supposed. “I have plenty of things of that sort, though few were originally mine.” Rebus used his nanomachines to check Bacon’s pockets and hat, though he had already seen the Lost Page before. Yup. If he’s declared himself emperor, something big has happened. “Total loyalty is not my goal at the moment. I can end disease, hunger, and scarcity, and that gains far more loyalty than any threat. Except the threat of bringing it back, of course.” Rebus grinned at the Author (assuming it was the Author, that is - Heir was pretty sure the Scribe was italicized). “I’ve succeeded.” “Would you desire expanding your business? I have antiteleportation fields, which would grant you a near-monopoly.” Rebus’s hearing was technologically enhanced, and even if it wasn’t he could read the posts. Rebus led her through the portal, the lab reconfiguring as he walked. “Now, would you rather be conscious or sedated for this?” “That is quite understandable - the number of things I myself am doing is large.” Rebus, though he had thought exaggerating the infighting would be enough to succeed, decided further measures would be necessary. The tide all over the planet changed as a massive geodesic dome of nanomachines appeared in the sky, glowing with purple lines. Rebus had arrived. “Actually, if I had a lab I could make it. I’m a metaphysicist, among other things.” “I do thank you for your help - other than that final plotline with Bacon, I believe we have interacted with them all.” And man is it giving me a lot of notifications. Rebus smiled back at him, following the man and taking not of what had been done. “I do, but you won’t succeed in what you’re trying to do by simply demanding someone court you. I would find someone with a common interest, spend a little time together doing that, and then ask.” “It is one of my goals, yes, but asking for tribute without knowing what tribute is needed is a good way to end up in a metaphorical corner.”

Rebus raised his eyebrow higher and teleported one of the Ceps into a magnetar, which results in instantaneous failure of chemistry for several simultaneous reasons. “I do like your business sense, though I need no help in this case - what manner of pay do you desire?” Alright, I’m going to sleep.

Why not, I’ll try this. It may not all work, though - some of these things are speculation. Build 1: Alright, this is a fairly ridiculous strategy. To start, using my prep time (with bendalloy, I may not even need it, in which case I shall buy a Larkin, fifth Heightening, the second Elsecaller Ideal, and only 20 points of random stuff), I open a Perpendicularity and Soulcast an immense quantity of various metals. I can now use bendalloy and duralumin Allomancy, and nicrosil Feruchemy to speed up time to a ridiculous extent. To avoid running out of air, I can compound bendalloy to power Aetherbinding, giving me more matter to soulcast. If Aetherbinding Investiture can be used to power other things, all the better. Anyway, with Compounding, Soulcasting, Perpendicularities, and Aetherbinding, I have a closed loop that acquires Investiture with no physical resources expended (other than from the spiritual realm, which won’t run out any time soon). Even Stormlight capacity can be increased (even without nicrosil speculation), as Sleepless can breed their hoardlings - which hold stormlight, since I am Radiant. Once I consider myself ready, I can drop the time bubble and wreak havoc suitable for an Aetherbound Radiant Fullborn Sleepless; individual hoardlings Steelrunning around Soulcasting people into air. If I somehow have problems, I can return to my supercharged time bubble or - should I have lost all my reserves and lack the time to soulcast more into my stomach - flee to the Cognitive Realm. There are of course more shenanigans I could use - cadmium Feruchemy to avoid the consequences of soulcasting the air to poisonous gasses, Connection manipulation as a Bondsmith and supercharged emotional Allomancy (potentially talking people into giving me Breath), any combat tactic that could be used by a component skillset, stealing someone’s Larkin (by feeding it Perpendicularity Stormlight until it cannot eat any more) and crossbreeding it with my hoardlings in a supercharged time bubble (this sounds like it would take a very long time, and it would, but supercharged time bubbles are very very sped up), stealing someone’s Atium for future sight, Steelpushing myself into the stratosphere, soulcasting a hot air balloon to stay in the stratosphere (or somewhere else in the air, but stratosphere is fun to say), supercharging cadmium so everyone else ages to death, stealing allomantic grenades to trap people in cadmium time bubbles I then pour acid into, making antimatter if I’m allowed to know what that is (and I only need one hoardling to do it, so every bug you encounter may be able to nuke you while most of me stays safe and far away), producing so many vines and Soulcasted other stuff the planet collapses into a star, doing a lot of thinking in a time bubble to I can reach Shardplate (electrum compounding may help, actually), healing from anything in three different ways (gold, Stormlight, and hoardling repopulation), and probably even more things I haven’t thought of. Anyway, that was a really long list - let’s see if someone thinks their build can beat mine (I have read them, but I think I’d win - even if @CoderDrag0n8’s aluminum shenanigans work, there is a WoB somewhere that says a spiked hoardling separates from the hive mind, and everyone else seems to be counterable, or even replicable by my build). I may make something even worse later (or perhaps something a bit more balanced).

It’s alright, though I’d like his reaction. Rebus raised an eyebrow. “I would say the same to you, though perhaps in different words. You are outclassed.” Rebus knew the value of a smile to disconcert others - evidently this man knew what he was doing. Or was simply weirdly happy about going into battle.

Rebus was talking to that person, not Cep. “What do you expect to be able to do, Cep?” Rebus grinned, and his crown grew darker still.

It’s fine - I had to check in order to remember. Rebus nodded. “Thank you, Stone. I can send you on the next leg of your journey, if you wish.” Rebus - somewhere else, so as to avoid Stone realizing how much trouble the message he had just delivered would cause - spoke to the wind. “Fate? Is this the task you give me, @xinoehp512? I do note that a portion of the deal requires it not cause the death of that specific copy of me - the one with a conscience. And I suppose even Onyx’s Realm is not fully safe.” In another place, Rebus spoke to another Author. “Storm, have you forgotten you were speaking to me?”

“I am going to take over the world - this one, and many others. I don’t plan to be a despot, though I will by definition be a tyrant - in fact, I already rule over an arguable utopia.” He smiled, then continued. “You, specifically, sound as though you have the skills and tendencies to take over some of my already existing responsibilities. I can invest you with the power to make magical contracts and grant you access to my teleportation network in addition to what you possess already.” “So you throw your lot with what remains of the protagonists?” Rebus asked, the crown glowing darker. “Bystanders, I predict, will be mere collateral damage to both sides.” Isn’t the message that Bacon has the lost page?

"You were pretty close to me already-" Rebus appeared in front of him, smiling, then pointed at a section of the Eternal Mountains which appeared to have melted and caved in. "What do you require?" In my defense, when I wrote that this had not yet happened. "I am the ruler of much of it, though the Thread is infinite." Rebus had a crown of darkly glowing metal that came to wicked points. "That being said, I am unsure what tribute Xanther believes I need."

Rebus - wearing grey, futuristic armor and a darkly glowing, wickedly pointed crown - teleported to the teleporter man with a thunderclap of displaced air. "Me too - I thought I might freeze to death alone." "I could create generic planets myself. I was thinking something a bit more personal..." Rebus trailed off, his Author having left for a while. "That was about what I would have asked you to do, though I feel the epithet could use work. If you recall, I cannot tell a literal falsehood, and as I've shown mercy before I cannot call myself Ruthless." Rebus approved of the progress, and was preemptively disappointed at what would soon happen. "Hello, Mr. Whitlock." "You have a lot to learn about people, I see." "Follow me," Rebus said, opening a portal to one of his many backup laboratories. Yup! When Xanther began talking, though, Cursed Treasure made a choked splutter in his head. Did he say Rebus is the emperor of the Thread!? The messenger saluted, then ran out the door and dissolved back into nanomachines as soon as he was out of sight.

"I'll need you to test the procedure, of course, and then see if you can prevent Atredies and Cricket from allying - feel free to join them and acquire compensation, as the point at which you might be targeted is also the point at which I can smugly announce you were working for me all this time, allowing you to survive whatever it is I do." Before Cursed Treasure could respond, the treasure seeker reached the pretzel, seizing it with both hands. Gold flowed from the pretzel, covering the hapless treasure seeker's hands, the wrists, then arms. Their scream was cut off as the gold got into their mouth, and their panicked eyes were covered a moment later. The resulting golden statue stood at attention, then walked to the other treasure seeker, picking them up and dragging them to the pretzel to suffer the same transformation. Cursed Treasure giggled in Lezterp's mind.

"I alloyed Order and Chaos together. Now it's ready to see if I can make a core." He smiled. "I would test it on myself, but there are some tropes standing in my way - villains testing early versions of something typically end up monstrous, while you can fit more in the Wolverine niche than the Red Skull style villain."

Rebus smiled again, Fael reminding him even more of his former self. "Yes - things you cannot manufacture. What would you say about a second Fundamental power set?"

"Correct." Rebus remembered when he would been doing nearly the exact same, and smiled. "I have a few possible tasks, differing in both risk and reward."

One of the treasure seekers pushed the other to the ground, leaving them bleeding out, and rushed passed Lezterp to the golden pretzel, a maddened look in what was visible of their eyes. Rebus looked at where Glass had been, and smiled with genuine warmth.

So shall Rebus speak to this man? "I wish I had the luxury of resurrection, though I have made up for it with my own capabilities." "My new Plotblade."Rebus smiled, waiting to see if she would guess correctly. He tried to remember who this was - the person from where they had arrived, perhaps? "I was thinking the reverse - my Author, or perhaps another, can create a world for you to conquer." It had been Rebus's creation - Chaotic Order - and some other applications of Nullite and Prismite. Rebus pushed the door open, preparing for what would soon occur. Somehow, I get the feeling he doesn't know how romance works... Rebus smiled politely. "What do you mean?" Two people in a mix of armor turned the corner and reached the room Lezterp and the golden pretzel were in. They immediately attacked each other, drawing knives. Rebus continued to watch. "You are. That's the point, Glass. Stories at their best make you feel. The pain is my job - the job of every Antagonist - so that the joy of the ending is that much greater." A messenger scurried into the room. "Sir! There are reports of the Tah-Kahal attacking each other - it might be our deliverance!"

“I did kill him once already. If you insist, I’ll let him go free - not unscathed, though I’ll ensure what I do benefits his arc rather than contracting it.” Rebus jumped over the crystals on a geyser of utility fog, landing softly in front of her. “Hello, Fael.” Rebus wants to hire the teleporter guy and, more broadly, to interfere with every plotline in the Thread.

“I cut my conscience out of my soul, but I was once altruistic at times. As for Atredies, I didn’t plan to kill him - I simply needed a Narrator to test my procedure on, willing or unwilling. He could have ruled by my side - and still can, in truth.” Rebus began looking for Fael, using his teleportation beacons to conserve his Narration.

Rebus had a nosebleed now, on top of his hypothermia. And Lady Bug had driven home her point - he realized, once again, how alone he was. Still, he should do something, so as not to freeze to death - he got up and began to gather firewood. “I was thinking of conquering some relevant planets, if you would like to expand your city into a kingdom in my empire.” Rebus walked inside, checking to see if Mr. Whitlock had sent him any notes. He had a feeling the man’s employment would be ending soon. “Interesting… any particular reason?” Rebus was aware of how few female characters his Author had - that should probably be changed. “I qualified as all three, though I’ve been sliding towards evil for obvious reasons. I’ll be sure to seek her out again, though - and Atredies could be of help to me as well.” “There is a clone of me in the Eternal Mountains at the moment, and considering the antimatter explosion I set off, he shouldn’t be hard to find. If Fate wanted him to speak to the moral copy, that will be harder.” Oh, things would get worse… And actually, it would partially be Storm’s fault. Rebus considered teleporting to this man. He sounded like he could be a good minion, and Rebus needed a way to involve himself in the last two active plotlines.

“I thank you for the advice. I believe Stone still needs to speak with me, correct? And I will speak to Fael, though it seems she would do better opposing me.” That had always been gone. “Ah, so I wasn’t an idiot. I simply saved my only friend from whatever that had been, and you.” “I am gathering allies and generals so that work can be done in my Author’s absence. If you wish to be one of them, say so - otherwise you are irrelevant.” “Yes, I suppose it was you. As for making people cry…” Rebus teleported a clone of him just outside Mr. Whitlock’s laboratory. Rebus nodded to him. “I sent Symbol away to save her life, killed Bat to save her life in the future, and now owe a favor to the Author who controls the Witherlord. My career has never been better.” The labyrinth shifted again, and then again. Looks like a group of people decided to work together to get here. That will change, though.

“Yes, crisis crossovers.” Rebus put Antagonist back on his head, then continued. “Not every antagonist loses, and I do have contingencies for defeat. I agree with you, that I am neither infallible nor - yet - fully intertwined with the Thread. I can be removed from power, but who are you to say that doom is not exactly what I want?”

I sneeze also, wondering if this shall become the plague RP. Perhaps we can sacrifice someone to the plague.

“I believe so.” Rebus briefly took off the crown so he could look at it. “I have plot armor against all but the Protagonist, but a tendency to invoke villain tropes. I may be tearing the Thread apart. I look fashionable and have a less technological weapon. There’s plenty of ramifications.”

Rebus nodded to the Author. “I’ve gathered both of those things - what do you have to say?”

"Time? What are you going to do with time? The only way out is to destroy a planet full of nanomachine and angry heroes."

"What hero?" Rebus's grin grew wider. "Bat is dead. If Cricket tries I get exactly what I want. And who knows, if I die, there's a power vacuum you could fill."