LAUGH! I'm not mad Chapter 4: Laugh 4, a worm fanfic

Coil tried desperately to draw breath as he struggled to get the attacker's fingers off his throat. it was ultimately futile. He collapsed the time line. That was a 23% chance of dying?

He shook himself from his thoughts and turned to the monster standing across from him. it wore a perplexed expression. The monster that looked like a girl. its mouth twisted into a horrible grin. Coil stamped down on his irrational thoughts, shaken as he was from the near death the girl before him was no monster just a parahuman. The odds were in his favor anyway, he could overcome this.

"46% chance you will be killed by the intruder." His pet droned, the sedatives in her system keeping her just lucid enough to speak her numbers.

46%? how could that be possible, his power should skew things in his favor not the other way around. Coil split the time line again. He moved in to engage the girl in hand to hand aggressive with a combat knife in one and pulled back for a more defensive approach in the other firing his gun on the unarmored girl.

In the aggressive timeline the girl sun circles around him. grappling him and striking him. her style of combat was a like a mix between a dancer and a werewolf. She would dance elegantly out of the way of his swipes and then come back with such inhuman brutality, grabbing, kicking, scratching, punching, biting. his suit was fitted with some body armor but it did little to protect him from the onslaught especial when she got close enough to work around it. In the end he felt his own knife bury itself in between the ribs where his armor conveniently didn't cover. he collapsed the timeline.

The other timeline went slightly in his favor, he was a good shot and could handle a gun well. but he was unable to land a shot center mass. The Girl dove and danced about. quick and agile. fast enough to avoid death but not fast enough to remain untouched. she had bleeding wounds in several places on her arms and legs where Thomas's bullets had grazed them or buried themselves. his clip ran empty

"50% chance you will kill the intruder." His pet droned once more. Coil didn't waste time figuring out why she was phrasing her numbers differently he loaded another clip and split the timeline.

This time he aimed his gun center mass and fired in both time lines.

The same shot pattern.

The same target.

The same grouping.

Different reactions.

In one time line the girl charged forward shifting her body back and forth just enough to avoid lethal injury but getting herself riddled with bullets all the same. Coil almost collapsed the other timeline then and there but then she reached him and proceeded to bring him to the ground where he found himself at the mercy of a strength far greater than her stick thin form would have suggested. In this timeline it was clear that both would die.

In the other the girl drew her own gun and fired as she dove out of the way and fired. It was a large gun and coil would have been surprised she could handle it if it wasn't for his previous experiences with her strength and resilience. Her aim was't stellar though, her shots missing him by narrow margins but missing him none the less. This looked like the more favorable.

He collapsed the other timeline. no sooner had he done so than he felt pain blossom in his chest. The girl's bullet had struck home, exactly where the knife had pierced him.

"92% chance you will be killed by the intruder" His pet droned. Thomas fell to the floor spitting blood. He could tell that one of his lungs had been puncture, it would probably collapse and he would die if he didn't get treatment. He split the timeline.

In one he reached into his suit and pulled a detonator from his costume. if he was going to die than he would kill her too at least in one timeline. Another shot was fired and he felt his hand explode in pain as the detonator skidded across the floor.

"NonE of that noW~" The girls voice said as her lips pulled into an even wider smile. In both timelines she walked over to him. "I cAn't have you doing anything Liiiik that~. I am going to need that later."

In the other timeline she disarmed him and then reached into his pocket and pulled out the detonator. "Thank you~. I got what I came here for." She tossed the detonator up and down for a moment before pocketing the device. Coil knew there wasn't anything special about the piece of equipment, there would be no reason to kill him just for that. He collapsed the other timeline, not liking the loss of a functioning hand in his current situation. he was having a difficult enough time with his blurring vision and his breathing problems.

He saw the girl walk over to his pet where she started to croon and coo, he couldn't make out what was being said. he heard foot steps and looked up to see a blurry white form. "Help... me... I... pay... anything."

"Oh!~ You~re here! how did the operation go with the Travelers?" his killer said from across the room.

"Everything went well." A soft voice said. So he had been betrayed by the travelers then. if given the chance he would show them exactly why that was a bad idea.

"Good~ Good~!" His killer replied. "Mind fixing that hole in his side? He's bleeding on my suit." Her suit?

The new girl touched his side where the wound was and he immediately felt better his vision began to clear. He knew of only one cape that could do this as quickly as this.

Before he could confirm his suppositions his view turned around to face his killer with a sickening crack. and then he felt no more.

-o0O0o-

Day four.

Three days of bombings, each day bringing the tension in the city higher and higher. where once the citizens had brushed off the announcement made by a no name cape, now they were afraid of what the mad woman had in store for them. Where once the state of affairs in the city had been unchanged in the wake of the initial message, violence had become rampant in the wake of the bombings.

On day two the docks had burned forcing the majority of the Merchants into the heart of the city to terrorize the citizens. The E88 had become more militant in their activities, Attacking anyone and everyone that did not conform to tier ideals regardless of whether it was within their territory or not. The ABB was a reactor to these events escalating their own activity solely because the others were doing the same.

On day three there were traffic jams as civilians attempted to flee the growing chaos from early in the morning till late into the evening, but the lines never moved. The roads out of town were bombed. The airport, however small, went up in flames and any attempt at rescuing the trapped citizens were met with yet more explosions and EMP bursts as Coil's henchmen, now under the command of the new mad cape, put a stop to any and all attempts to escape The Bay. The civilian casualties had jumped to 57 with many more injured as desperate citizens were caught in the blasts.

And today...

A breakthrough.

Armsmaster sighed in relief. Dragon had finally been able to track down the location of the unknown cape's Base. He and the entirety of the wards team were outside the building, the guards that had once stood outside tied up on the ground and the door open. He had brought Shadow Stalker along as bait if the villain was going to act than it would be beneficial to force their hand and what better way than to dangle their quarry in front of them. It was unethical but the chaos had to stop and he had faith in his ability to keep her safe. Not to mention the large amount of back up they had at their disposal. PRT Vans sat parked around every corner and occupied positions in building all around the block, they even had helicopters on standby no more than five minutes away. All of this while the rest of the protectorate capes ran interference else where in the city.

All in all Armsmaster knew he could keep Shadow Stalker safe and apprehend the villain.

Armsmaster finished running his program through the electronic lock opening the first door and preventing any alarms. He, of course, went first.

The halls were white and clean, almost sterile, like a hospital. the florescent lighting flickered slightly. two more guards turned to look towards Armsmaster. He moved forward quickly, incapacitating them deftly and leaving them unconscious on the ground with hands trapped behind their backs. He did not slow in his advance down the halls, Vista made the halls shorter as they went. it was barely ten minutes and the entire compound was cleared, all four floors of it. All save for one room.

"What are we waiting for." Shadow Stalker asked impatiently,as Armsmaster's hacking tool worked on the heavy steal door. "Lets get in there and kick the psycho bitch's ass."

"Language." Vista admonished, receiving a snort from Shadow Stalker.

Armsmaster sighed again, in exasperation this time. "The room could be trapped. Stay here and provide support." Armsmaster gave them little more than a second before opening the heavy metal door quickly and entering the room Halberd first.

He was faced with an empty room.

Not entirely empty. The set on which the message to the people of Brockton Bay had been broadcast was still there. The table stood in the middle of the room, and empty basket and a plunger. the desk and rolling chair in which Coil's body sat slumped were off to one side. everything but the brief cases were where they had been in the video. Which meant the villain wasn't here. And the place stank.

Armsmaster swore in his head. "Its clear." He said aloud.

The rest of the Wards entered the room, on guard and ready for any surprise attacks.

"Jesus! What died in here?" Clockblocker asked, visibly cringing as the smell assaulted his nose.

"Coil." Armsmaster said simply.

"The psycho just left him here in her base? That's just wrong." Gallant said looking everywhere but at the body.

Aegis sighed heavily as he moved towards the body, the rest of the wards relaxed greatly when they saw that they would not have to deal with it. Armsmaster moved towards the computers in the corner where he started typing away having no difficulties with security.

"Um. Armsmaster, your going to want to come look at this." Aegis spoke grabbing all their attention. Armsmaster moved to the body from when his place at the computer leaving kid win to work on it.

"What is it?" he asked approaching the leader of the Wards, from his stance he could see that the boy was uncomfortable, agitated even.

"The body, sir. It's..." Aegis trailed off and just gestured to the body.

Armsmaster looked it over and immediately saw the problem. The corpse was rotting. The body had clearly been there for a while. Longer than a simple three days. "Troubling." he said aloud even as his mind tried to make sense of this new information. Was this the result of the cape's power? did she have some ability that could cause this kind of rot. No. Armsmaster ruled it out. which meant that Coil had died little more than a month ago. And that meant that She had predicted the Leviathan attack considering the recorded message contained pristine corpse. But the question still remained. How?

"HELLO~ little Wards~!" A bright and cheery voice came from the far wall. Armsmaster and the wards turned in unison pointing their weapons in the direction of the new threat. A bright screen took up the entirety of the far wall and the twisted, grinning face of the Unknown Cape was displayed on it. "Was SOoooo Boooored~ And since you came by I thought That Now Would be a GreAt time for a GAaAME~!" She said as the heavy steal door slammed shut behind them. Her face stretched itself into an even wider grin.

"Stop fucking with us!" Sophia yelled. "Whats your fucking deal with me anyways, you crazy bitch!"

"Crazy~!? I used to be crazy once~! I was thrown into a metal box~! I died there, with the bugs~! I hate bugs, they make me Crazy~!" She said in a sing song voice. soft and lilting and devoid of emotion but the grin remained.

"Crazy~!? I used to be crazy once~! I was thrown into a metal box~! I died there, with the bugs~! I hate bugs, they make me Crazy~!"

Sophia snapped. "SHUT UP!

"HEeeheeeheeheeheeeheehehehehaahahaaahaaahaaahaaahaahahahahahaha!" The girl laughed.

"What The FUCK IS YOUR PROBLEM!" Sophia yelled again even as Armsmaster put a hand on her shoulder both comforting and warning.

"You made me." The Mad Cape said with an uncharacteristically straight face. "I don't know how but I know it was YOU who did it. Think of this as my way of saying..." The girl paused before her grin returned and she practically purred in a low voice. "Thank you~."

"You're insane!" Sophia yelled.

"Maybe. maybe." The cape said nodding. "But enough of this We have a game to play! Ready?" she asked and the screan changed to a mirror image of the room they stood in, everything as it was when they entered. there was no more audio.

"What Game?" Asked Clockblocker from his place many steps away from Shadow Stalker than he was previously."What are we supposed to do with this?"

"Its exactly the same." Brow beat said looking about the room and looking back to the image.

"Not exactly" Armsmaster said pointing to the table. where the plunger stood. "The detonator is primed." he said.

Silence fell over the Wards as they stared.

"So..." Vista began, breaking the silence.

"Do we use it?" Gallant asked.

"I vote no." Clockblocker said

"I second that." Vista said.

"But how do we get out?" Kid win asked.

Armsmaster didn't answer instead activating his halberd and stabbing into the door. it was only a few short minutes before the door fell out of the way. The screen behind them changed back to the Mad Cape.

"Awe~ You cheated~" She said with what might have been a pout. Then her smile returned wide and unnerving. "Oh well.~" She rased her hand into view showing a detonator. "You've got till 10!"

The Wards ran, Vista using her powers and browbeat carrying the slower members. They leaped through the door just in time to avoid having the whole place come down on top of them.

"That was a close one." Aegis panted.

He got no reply. he looked up to see the wards staring at the street around them. "What the Fuck." Shadow stalker said. for once receiving no reprimand. Bodies, Lots of them, burned, crushed, torn apart, cut to ribbons, and twisted, All in the PRT officer uniform. The wreckage of vans and helicopters lay smoldering up and sown the street, body hung from windows and many of the building had collapsed.

And painted in big red letters across the road before them

Hello Sophia Hess

-o0END0o-

done. sorry for the long wait. I had an idea for what I was going to do for this chapter than realized that I made a really big mistake and had to change the timeline around. then I couldn't even imagine how to start this chapter.

And I was lazy. but it was mostly the other stuff I promise.

once again, speculate.

just remember to double check all the information you are presented with.