Chapter 26: Bard in Worm
I had transmigrated into Worm almost a week ago and I have hated every moment of it as the body of the 16 year old had been homeless and killed by some Merchants for refusing to take their drugs.
Thankfully I had been given powers by whatever brought me here based around Music, I could summon, gain powers, or skills based around the song I sing or perform.
The powers included summoning any instrument and the ability to perform any song perfectly, so with my abilities I decided to join the PRT because Fuck being homeless and with them I'll have a support network along with hot food god I missed hot food.
But first I needed a costume and I knew a song that would be perfect for building a set of armor.
———-
Brockton Bay was once a place filled with industry and production but with the collapse of the international over sea trade and the massive Tanker that was sunk at the mouth of the bay killed what little remained.
So finding an abandoned steel manufacturing plant was easy, its smelters long gone cold and what once remained had been stolen or sold off when the business went under but that didn't matter I just needed the memories of the place held for tonight.
[Dwarven Forge By Clamavi De Profundis]
Grabbing an old sledge hammer that sat off to the side I heft it and slammed it to the side of an old bucket that was used to move the molten steel and the forge Echoes with the hit.
Then again I hit the bucket and a voice much deeper than my own leaves my mouth.
[Under mire, A ring of fire
A mystic flame, From Oron came
From the tremors, Of ancient embers
Crystal, treasures, and gold Did flow
We the keepers, Of all things deeper
Must keep the flames, Now pull the chains
Make the bellows blow…]
And the smelters that had been cold for over a decade come alive as shadows of Dwarfs move among the scaffolding and chains giving the factory life as they forge the last piece of steel this place would ever make.
[Burst of flame rising up before us
The forge of great renown
Our hearts beating now in chorus
To match the hammers pound
This is the realm of glory
The kingdom underground
Dwarven forge in the flaming roar we
Shall bind the blade renowned
Fill the wagons with bones of dragons
For armor stores never forged before
Coal depleted, the forge is heated
To smelt the ore, go back for more
Purge what's useable, pour the crucible]
The factory heats and burns hotter and brighter as the dwarves bring in loads of material from the air and will the armor and blade worthy of the last thing the factory will forge.
[Blows precise in a hardy vise
Now make the bellows blow
Burst of flame rising up before us
The forge of heroes past
Our hands beating now in chorus
As molten hammers blast
This is the realm of glory
The kingdom under grass]
Pulling out a chunk of the semi molten steel the Dwarves summon an Anvil and begin hammering the Amor into shape with their fists leaving imprints of their souls with every hit.
[Dwarven forge, filling up our stores, we Forge weapons unsurpassed
Draw the sword
Encrusted hilt shall glow
Spear and axe and halberd
Metal white as snow
Keep the fire of Oron
Burning in the deep
Dwarven hand shall never
Let the hammer sleep
Burst of flame rising up inside us
The Dwarven army goes
Our hearts beating now in chorus
To match the hammers' blows
This is the realm of glory
The kingdom under snows]
They move on to the weapon, an ever changing blade that changes into every Cold steel weapon a massive two handed ax or a spear whatever I need.
[Dwarven forge, shielding us in war, we Shall conquer all our foes
Through mountain coming
Here and beyond
The mountain coming
To escape beyond
Through the mountain morning
Here and beyond
The mountain morning
And glory on]
As they near compilation the dwarves slowly begin to fade away as they impart the memory of wars of an age forgotten and a people long gone, not the armor and blade to teach me to live up to their creators.
——-
I collapse to one knee as the song finishes the entire event taking a lot out of me and most of the night at that but I'm able to recover quickly and pick up the armor and the ever changing blade.
As I touch the armor I feel it shift under my touch as it changes and moves cover my body, the blade jump into my hand and changes to a two handed ax which I do a couple of test swings and begin doing a couple of maneuvers with it the blade correcting my form and moving my arms to where they need to go.
Willing the blade to change to a Gladius I leave the factory behind heading towards the coast towards the floating oil rig to hopefully get a job.
———-
Wearing the armor as I walk I could feel my body improving passively, my stride becoming more confident, my muscles bulking up to carry the bulk of my armor.
A couple people make calls about me walking down the street and walk off but most just make a path around me till I reach the PRT office on the docks. The receptionist presses something under the desk properly and alarm of some kind.
"I would like to register for the Wards program please and have some lunch. I'm starving." She looks at me with big eyes and her smile stiffens.
"You hit the silent alarm didn't you?" I ask dejectedly, "Well sorry I didn't have a way of setting up a meeting." And a group of five armored PRT agents bait in guns drawn but seeing the situation is not dangerous they calm but stay ready and behind them is Miss Militia, a massive revolver in her hand.
"Stephine, are you okay?" Militia asked not seeing a fight or a person being detained.
"I'm fine I just panicked but this cape here is looking to join the wards! So could you please help him." She asked, trying to change the subject.
Militia smiled with her eyes as her bandanna covered her lower face and holstered her revolver. "Well, I'd love to get the process. Would you please follow me."
I move to follow and wave goodbye to the receptionist, "Could I have a sandwich or something while we do this because I haven't had anything to eat in a couple of days." I say as my new muscles were using up what little nutrients I had.
"I'll radio someone to bring something up now, please have a seat here while I grab the paperwork and you something to drink." She sits me down in front of a desk with a lot of nicnacs from all over the USA.
Not a minute later she enters with a bottle of water, a sandwich and a large stack of paperwork, "Here you are now…" and I had already retracted my helmet and began devouring the sandwich not caring about my secret identity.
She looked a little confused then sad as he saw how quickly I ate yet savored the taste of fresh food and water.
"Thank you, so much you have no idea how long it's been since I had fresh food and water. Now what do I Need to do to sign up for the wards." I say finishing the last of the water and keeping my helmet down.
"Well first, I would like to ask what powers you have but I think you are tinker of some kind, in addition do you have any legal guardian we can call." I shake my head.
"I'm all alone and I have music powers. I believe I'd be a trump. It's easier to show during testing I can also summon any instrument but I did make this armor with my powers."
We delve into the legalities of the ward contract which is actually quite nice and pays well for it also includes free housing and food.
After a couple of hours and two more sandwiches we headed out for the rig for power testing after I said my powers could be destructive.
———-
On the back side of the base they had reconditioned an old cargo dock for moving between the rig and the mainland they also had a convoy of about 20 trucks off to the side idling.
Miss Militia stopped me as I was about to move for a small boat off to the side, "You got her just in time there is a delivery headed for the rig so we get to take the light bridge, hop in the back of the truck."
As she talks a buzz fills the air that makes my teeth itch slightly as a beam of light leaves the rig and stops right in front of the lead truck which begins to drive out towards the rig.
"Okay that's pretty cool." I say smiling under my helmet and my voice gives away my mood as Miss Militia and the other agents laugh at my wonder.
As we rode on a bridge of solid light the agents talked to another and eventually one of the older ones spoke to me.
"What can you do son? Tinker? Because that armor is pretty nice and reminds me of European knights." He was probably in his mid 40s, probably one of the oldest men here.
"Kind of Miss Militia said I'm a Trump, I did use my powers to make this. If Militia doesn't mind you watching I'd be happy to let some of the agents watch my power testing. It should be eventful." I looked over to M&M and she nodded.
As we rode along the aganesra made some more guesses about what my powers are, none got close to guessing but some were entertaining.
-
Millta led myself and a couple agents to the testing chambers split into a couple sections that had [Brute], [Stranger], and [Blaster] above each door and the last one Milita waved me into.
The room, which was surprisingly large, was filled with a shooting range that went out of a large balcony and into the sea below.
A speaker above me crackled to life, "Good Afternoon, Bard(?) I'm researcher Michael Miss Militia is here with me for our safety, I was told your abilities could be dangerous so I'm going to ask you to try and destroy the ship outside that is painted bright orange in the graveyard." Walking over to the balcony I see on the coast a brightly colored ship.
"Do not be worried we sent out some warning and had some agents clear the area so feel free to go all out." Dr Michael said and gave me the all clear to destroy the ship.
"Okay, I'm starting so try not to panic." I summoned an electric guitar and began.
(Night Witches Sabaton)
[From the depths of hell in silence
Cast their spells, explosive violence
Russian night time flight perfected
Flawless vision, undetected
Pushing on and on, their planes are going strong]
My voice started off different once again as if it was coming in from far off in the distance then suddenly it doubled in volume as a squadron of five Russian WW2 planes appeared right overhead of the rig.
[Air Force number one
Somewhere down below they're looking for the foe
Bomber's on the run
You can't hide, you can't move, just abide
Their attack's been proved (raiders in the dark)
Silent through the night the witches join the fight
Never miss their mark
Canvas wings of death
Prepare to meet your fate
Night Bomber Regiment
588]
The planes shut off their engines and began to glide in and laughter that sent chills up the spines of the Nazis as the witches laughed filled the air above Brockton.
[Undetected, unexpected
Wings of glory
Tell their story
Aviation, deviation
Undetected
Stealth perfected
Foes are losing ground, retreating to the sound
Death is in the air
Suddenly appears, confirming all your fears]
The lead plane drops her bombs first and restarts engine and does a sharp turn just avoiding the blast of her own bombs as they hit the designated shop.
[Strike from witches lair
Target found, come around, barrels sound
From the battleground (axis aiming high)
Rodina awaits, defeat them at the gates
Live to fight and fly
Canvas wings of death
Prepare to meet your fate
Night Bomber Regiment
588]
Her squad follows suite as each of them hit the damaged ship and swing back towards the rig laughter still filling the air.
[Undetected, unexpected
Wings of glory
Tell their story
Aviation, deviation
Undetected
Stealth perfected]
Even with the eyes of most of Brockton on they disappear from sight as they go low and skim the water, their landing gear leaving waves along the water.
[Beneath the starlight of the heavens
Unlikely heroes in the skies (witches to attack, witches coming back)
As they appear on the horizon
The wind will whisper when the night witches come]
As they move along the water near the rig and change formation into a line, their leader wanting to show off after a century of silence has them flew right underneath the rig.
[Undetected, unexpected
Wings of glory
Tell their story
Aviation, deviation
Undetected
Stealth perfected]
Pulling up at the last minute they buzz the balcony I'm on as she flies by she gives a salute and as I sign the final chorus they dissolve into nothing.
[From the depths of hell in silence
Cast their spells, explosive violence
Russian night time flight perfected
Flawless vision, undetected]
————
"Well, I think I destroyed the ship." I say looking out over the balcony a huge smile on my face as the smoke cleared and where the boat once sat was now a decent sized crater.
The speaker buzzed again and this time M&Ms voice came through, "Bard.... Never do that again unless strictly ordered too that caused some panic. Now please head to the Brute labs Armsmaster and Kid Win will be there while I help calm the city."
I shrug and leave the room for the Brute chamber, the room is set up with various cameras, sensors and equipment.
Armsmaster wearing his blue power armor was standing to the side with Kid win in his bright red armor trying to look relaxed, looking over a tablet filled with data.
Seeing I had arrived, Armsmaster walked over and shook my hand, "Welcome Bard to the Wards, we are here to test your various personal capabilities as with your armor, without and boosted from your music.
Myself and Kid Win will be monitoring everything, now please run the gauntlet as quickly as possible."
—————
While Bard did the obstacle course Miss Millta met with Director Piggot about there new ward and his powers.
Piggot was a slightly overweight woman but still held herself like the soldier she used to be, she looked over the written document and the video of Bards blaster testing.
"Just how strong are his powers Miss Militia, he says here that he can summon, and gain the abilities based on the song he is singing or performing.
He claims his armor was forged using a song based on Tolkien's works, which explains the calls last night about noise coming from the docks. While that airstrike during power testing was based on the Night Witches from the Second World War." Piggot just rubs her face and looks at her subordinate with tired eyes.
Miss Militia just sighed and looked over the notes, "Honestly he should be labeled as a Trump 10 as he also claims he could boost his allies or heal them based on the song As Well. Imagine if he sings about Atom Bombs or hell gods could he summon one of them."
They hear a muffled thud and Piggot pulls up the video cameras of the lab and sees Bard utterly pulverize a piece of testing equipment to test his hit strength.
"Well….. if anything I think we will be doing some good with his help we may be able to push out some of the gangs or if anything gain better footing against them." Militia said they were trying to find the silver lining of the situation but Piggot just groaned.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone