Presigning a kill order on Joe at this point is something I would expect from Director James Tagg (the guy who grew up and served in the military while the monopoly of power was firmly in the hands of the government).
Piggot on the Hand served in the PRT and should be very aware of what pushing a cape to their limits can lead to. Even with her hate boner for Capes and her unwillingness to cooperate with Villains Piggot has kept Brockton Bay at status Quo and while the decision is idiotic it shows that she is quite capable. Apeiron beat Dragon on a certain level, that is not something to take lightly and using a WMD on an opponent they assumed to be at Endbringer level is NOT casual use.
I mean seriously how are they even so certain of the of their analysis. In the Glory Girl Interlude Kid Win told the rest of the wards that half the country's tinker and thinker population was watching this and while they disagreed on what those blue lines exactly were are the ONE thing they agreed upon is that Apeiron could not use them at the moment, only for Joe to just activate them. The only reason the Power tinker classification is going to hold for any length of time is that it's simply so broad given Earth Bets decades of Parahuman triggers. My Suspension of Disbelief is probably stretched this thin, because of LordRoustabouts detailed writing style (something i greatly enjoy) and the sheer senselessness of tinkers even in comparison to conventional superpowers.
So alot of people belive that Joe is a mad tinker. I am wondering what would happen if Joe actually got a perk that turned him into a mad tinker. Im of course refering to the strong spark perk from girl genius a web comics of mad scientists. Of course theres only like a 2% chance of him geting it so it will probably be fine.
Good points. Good points indeed.
A have to add that Piggot likely expects the PRT PR department to be more powerful and be able to advance their point of view way better than an individual "parahuman", who have not demonstrated any work with public opinion so far. She, after all, can't know that Joe can, for example, create PR-focused AI (that's not likely to happen, but certainly possible).
I'm mildly surprised that people think that Aperion is going to join the Elite. Based on some of Uppercrust's internal monologue I actually think it is more likely that he joins Aperion as a fellow hero. I'm really looking forward to Aperion's organization growing and him developing contacts and relationships with the wider cape community. Aperion is poised to end up with a massive team, Dragon (and maybe Defiant), Weld, Gulley, Uppercrust, the Undersiders, probably the Travelers, maybe Theo, and so on and so forth. Having someone with the depth of experience and connections that Uppercrust has would be incredibly helpful. Uppercrust also stands to gain a lot more than a cure for his condition, Aperion's workshop has the kind of amenities to make Toybox look like a high school metal shop, nigh unlimited resources, specialized labs with unique effects, anomalous crafting materials, and the feature that restores anything built in the workshop within 48 hours. That last bit alone basically solves the maintenance issue that all Tinker Tech. has.
Having a drag race with Squealer that results in seducing her away from Skidmark and fixing all her myriad health issues? 3 am thinking but at least she's not Professor Hebert's daughter or a friend thereof.
Giving Gully a 5-foot-tall naiad-type body with bark-brown skin, green hair, a soprano that sounds like a cascade of silvery bells, a perfect complexion and facial beauty that's beyond human without seeming unnatural, and sparkling eyes that one would gladly drown in? 3 am thinking to not realize the size of the C53 pilgrimage that's about to start.
Okay, now I want to see both of these things. Don't think I've seen many Worm fanfics where the main character romances Squealer. I think the fanbase of this fic would not appreciate this however.
Making Gully a beauty, on the other hand, is all goodness. Though I would prefer her to be a bit more Statuesque, nothing wrong with tall women, that might be one of the things he can't change about her.
The description says specifically that it can be "toggled", but he might as well get used to it, even if that perk can be turned off, LordR just added Asura's Wrath to the active part of the Forge, and on that jumpchain is this lovely thing:
Imposing Declaration of Title - Free!
Whenever you do something dramatic or just something really badass, perception of you changes for
a splitsecond. Observers see the title or highconcept description of your current state or action as
awesome block characters superimposed on their vision. This applies to named attacks/combat maneuvers,
legendary weapons, companions and so on.
and not a hint of being able to turn it off! Won't that be exciting! Wonder how it will stack with Calling Card if it happens to be toggled on at the same time...
Couldn't he just take his current wand's core out for a second and put it back together, thereby making it better than the Elder Wand because it would be divinely mastercrafted?
He somewhat can. He can just pick a stick from identical wood, shape it exactly like the old one (even if wood is not a perfect fit, material replacement should compensate), insert the core from old one... This way he gets 5 'cores' to play with in boosted wands. And that counts as 'boosted conventional' ones.
But there is a chance that Joe will be reluctant to disassemble his wand. Wand supposedly choses a wizard, so disassembling his old one might count as a betrayal.
P.S. if new ones don't work, it should be easy to reinsert a core into old one, he will still have intact surplus cores to play with.
A have to add that Piggot likely expects the PRT PR department to be more powerful and be able to advance their point of view way better than an individual "parahuman", who have not demonstrated any work with public opinion so far. She, after all, can't know that Joe can, for example, create PR-focused AI (that's not likely to happen, but certainly possible).
To be fair, Joe did 'demonstrate' a lot of textbook PR work (even if he himself is unaware of that), but assumption that PRT has a more powerful PR machine would have been valid in any other case simply due to having more resources, so it is a reasonable one to make. PR focused powers 'do not exists' after all.
He somewhat can. He can just pick a stick from identical wood, shape it exactly like the old one, insert the core from old one... This way he gets 5 'cores' to play with in boosted wands. And that counts as 'boosted conventional' one.
But there is a chance that Joe will be reluctant to disassemble his wand. Wand supposedly choses a wizard, so disassembling his old one might count as a betrayal.
P.S. if new ones don't work, it should be easy to reinsert a core into old one, he will still have intact surplus cores to play with.
To be fair, Joe did 'demonstrate' a lot of textbook PR work (even if he himself is unaware of that), but assumption that PRT has a more powerful PR machine would have been valid in any other case simply due to having more resources, so it is a reasonable one to make. PR focused powers 'do not exists' after all.
I mean, they know Uber's power let's him be skilled in any nothing he chooses, and occupational skills fall under his ability so they have a PR power right there in front of them. There are plenty of thinker powers that are broad enough to direct them to PR pursuits.
That's a somewhat reasonable argument, and an inaction. Capes do not do 'reasonable' and absolutely do not do 'inaction' as far as Piggot is concerned.
Short term it might be better to escalate pressure or even have a hundred bounty hunters making things difficult for a month than to have a 'three blasphemies' scenario in a month on a more permanent basis.
Presigning a kill order on Joe at this point is something I would expect from Director James Tagg (the guy who grew up and served in the military while the monopoly of power was firmly in the hands of the government).
Piggot on the Hand served in the PRT and should be very aware of what pushing a cape to their limits can lead to. Even with her hate boner for Capes and her unwillingness to cooperate with Villains Piggot has kept Brockton Bay at status Quo and while the decision is idiotic it shows that she is quite capable. Apeiron beat Dragon on a certain level, that is not something to take lightly and using a WMD on an opponent they assumed to be at Endbringer level is NOT casual use.
Depending on what Tagg worked with he may actually deal with Apeiron better.
after all one of the most important jobs in the military is talking with military contractors and weapons dealers, something you could easily transpose to Joe, and he is likely to deal with Joe better than with skitter, since he doesn't see him as an imminent treat to the American status quo due to Taylor being the first successful warlord in the US of A
heck, making joe a 5 in all classifications and a 11 in tinker isn't even inaccurate
Joe also has a much more militaristic modus operandi than Taylor, with the deployment of drones and artillery meaning he has a much better carry over of skills for Tagg
Presigning a kill order on Joe at this point is something I would expect from Director James Tagg (the guy who grew up and served in the military while the monopoly of power was firmly in the hands of the government).
Piggot on the Hand served in the PRT and should be very aware of what pushing a cape to their limits can lead to. Even with her hate boner for Capes and her unwillingness to cooperate with Villains Piggot has kept Brockton Bay at status Quo and while the decision is idiotic it shows that she is quite capable. Apeiron beat Dragon on a certain level, that is not something to take lightly and using a WMD on an opponent they assumed to be at Endbringer level is NOT casual use.
I mean seriously how are they even so certain of the of their analysis. In the Glory Girl Interlude Kid Win told the rest of the wards that half the country's tinker and thinker population was watching this and while they disagreed on what those blue lines exactly were are the ONE thing they agreed upon is that Apeiron could not use them at the moment, only for Joe to just activate them. The only reason the Power tinker classification is going to hold for any length of time is that it's simply so broad given Earth Bets decades of Parahuman triggers. My Suspension of Disbelief is probably stretched this thin, because of LordRoustabouts detailed writing style (something greatly enjoy) and the sheer senselessness of tinkers even in comparison to conventional superpowers.
A kill order would be a declaration of war. It means the rules no longer matter and the gloves are off. That's not a smart thing to do if you're dealing with someone with a WMD especially if you seriously think they're an unstable mad tinker whose powers and capabilities are unknown and growing.
However, note that what she needs isn't an actual kill order signed and approved. It doesn't need to go through. She just needs there to be a meeting. She just needs the rumor/news that one is being considered to nudge the narrative into seeing Apeiron as dangerous and a possible threat to the public at large. That fear and the thoughts that emerge will act like worms that dig into the the subconscious of the public and direct the narrative into turning Apeiron as the one to blame and as the villain. Doing so shifts blame and attention from her. It makes the public less focused on and less likely to dig up/talk about her and the PRT's failings.
Piggot could force the meeting because it's within her authority to call one especially in a state of emergency and the other directors would have to meet due to policy. She doesn't need the kill order approved for it to have the desired effect. In fact, I think she knows it won't be approved especially since two of the six directors could include Boston and New York. I think she's calculated the risks and knows that Apeiron isn't as dangerous as she paints him to be. She also knows of her failings in this mess and knows that the blame isn't on Apeiron like she originally tried to paint it as. She's just fine with making him the scapegoat.
While she might believe him as dangerous or a disaster waiting to happen, she at least knows that he has boundaries he won't cross. I think she knows she won't get the expected desperate unstable mad tinker response and therefore the risks are minimal. She is willing to burn bridges if it means a chance to save her career and reputation and push blame. So long as she gets to paint the narrative she can save her career and can have the time to recover from the worst of it especially since she would have leverage over Apeiron. Of course with Uppercrust here and his threat, her plans are doomed to fail and her best opinion now is to work with him.
I'm curious if she seriously think he's an unstable mad tinker. By that I mean the image of an 'unstable' mad tinker is usually Bakuda, right? While she definitely has a strong hate and distrust for Apeiron and could see him as a danger, I think she doesn't see him as unstable in the conventional sense. I think while it's a genuine fear or worry, she's more just pushing that theory because it's a great tool in painting Apeiron as a disaster waiting to happen. Instead of a volatile bomb it's a sharpened energy sword. I think she knows he has a grip of himself and that his actions show he isn't a threat to the public like a kill order would imply. He's dangerous especially since he's messing with dangerous things that also dig up her deepest fears (wet tinkering) but she knows he has a level of control/direction to his own actions and behavior.
I think one other fascinating thing is in how she's calculated the cost. The cost of calling for the meeting is the directors having a worse opinion of her. That's something acceptable especially since she doesn't care about their opinion of her and even if she did, so long as she stays director, they'd have to put up with her. The other "cost" is making an enemy of Apeiron. He already doesn't like her so nothing lost there. She also knows that there isn't a cost to the public at least in the form of Apeiron going crazy desperate and WMDing the city. Therefore she stands to lose little and gain a lot from calling the meeting and shifting media attention and blame. Of course Uppercrust pushes the scale to her losing everything if she goes through with it.
One interesting aspect is how she would have stood to gain a lot but others would lose a lot. The Case 53s could lose their only hope in being cured. People like Uppercrust stand to lose a chance at medical help. And the world stands to lose a tinker who is willing to give mass producible fusion tech in exchange for help in stopping a bomb tinker terrorist and saving her hostage victims.
That's not even getting into the short term stuff like cooperation in the clean up of the fallout and Minovsky or in dealing with the implants and conscripts or taking down Bakuda. I think she doesn't see those things as possible or something that'd could realistically happen due to her problems with Apeiron. Or maybe she sees those things happening but think it would be better to happen if she has leverage. She might think pushing Apeiron into a position of weakness would be better in the end for her, the PRT, and the public. Or maybe she just wants the assurance of leverage and thinks she'd be able to look better to the public if she paints Apeiron as a bad guy and herself as the merciful and hardworking director willing to put aside difference to negotiate despite the kill order. I don't know. It could be a multiple combination of things.
She's willing to pay those costs because she's not the one paying. She's desperate enough to do that. Either she doesn't believe in the possibility of Apeiron doing good, is underestimating the amount of good he can do, thinks he's a genuine threat that must be put down, merely hasn't considered all the consequences especially on those besides herself due to the choas, genuinely sees her actions and plans for leveraging control of Apeiron as the best for the public, tunneled vision on the short term, genuinely thinks the cost are minimal, or just straight up doesn't care and only is thinking about herself is something I want to know.
TLDR: I think Piggot has calculated the cost, risks, and benefits (though the end result might be a "The risk I took was calculated, but man, am I bad at math." moment). She also knows Apeiron isn't as dangerous as she paints him to be. Therefore, she felt it was safe for the news to spread that a kill order was being considered or even in having a presigned kill order for Apeiron at all.
My original theory was that Piggot knows a kill order won't pass even if it's a presigned one. Afterall, the directors of Boston and New York are probably two of the six. There's also the Brockton Police Commissioner who probably appreciates Apeiron's handling of things and who probably doesn't like the PRT and their handling of everything.
My point was that she was hoping for the meeting and merely the news that it was being considered so she can direct the public narrative and media to focus on "how much of a threat or danger is Apeiron". This is to divert attention and set up for her plans to shift blame.
However, the more I think about it the more I see that it being very possible that Piggot actually does want a presigned kill order passed. Afterall, it's presigned, not active. It's a loaded gun that hasn't been fired yet and that kind of leverage and assurance is something Piggot would totally seek out.
Piggot's actions have been guided by emotion and prejudice and the goal of salvaging her position and reputation. While she isn't stupid and is aware of the reality of things(to a certain degree), she's still very much guided by her emotions and prejudices. It's practically guaranteed for her to not be thinking about the consequences and her plans in a completely rational way.
I no longer think her intentions were merely the news of the kill order being considered and her carefully planning a series of political chess move. An example of what my original train of thought was is that if she had to cover up her actions she might dismiss and correct the news on Apeiron kill order meeting and say it was actually one for Bakuda/March/Lung. I had thought she was setting up dominos, planting seeds of doubt in the public with merely the rumors and news of an Apeiron kill order. PR, poltics, etc. The long game. However, that doesn't fit her character. It's not a long game.
Couple points worth making in light of the latest update:
1)Canonically, PRT directors have specialties.
Director Armstrong over in Boston is research and parahuman science; hence he had more than a few Case 53s on staff and in his vicinity.
Piggot's specialty is canonically supposed to be PR and the social integration of parahumans.
He knew, but he assumed she would prefer to explain. Besides, how she explained would inform him a great deal about his new boss's personality. "Not really."
"You likely know Director Armstrong in Boston, how he tends to prioritize research and understanding parahumans. I concern myself with more concrete affairs. Public relations, parahumans as a part of America."
Weld nodded.
"What Armstrong continually fails to grasp is that if we do not integrate parahumans into society, help society bend to accommodate your kind, there is no point in lab experiments or classifications. As bad as things might be with the periodic arrival of Endbringers and parahuman criminals, matters could be ten times worse if panic or prejudice takes hold from the public. You understand?"
"One thing, ma'am," Weld spoke.
2)Its canon that Blasto received a provisional kill order as a biotinker.
The details were explicitly leaked to him as a deterrent and warning to prevent him developing self-replicating organisms.
Its also canon that Bakuda did not get a kill order even when she was masterminding the bombing campaign of Brockton Bay and both the National Guard and Homeland Security were activated and in the city, along with outsider capes. Because at that point, a kill order was only likely to make things worse by drawing in crazies and bounty hunters and making her escalate.
You see the same dynamic with String Theory, who perpetrated mass casualty events in multiple countries from Wales to Indonesia for money, and literally threatened to knock the moon out of the sky; she was the subject of an international manhunt, and very carefully captured alive.
Because kill orders would have made a bad situation worse.
I find it very difficult to believe that six different PRT directors are going to look at the facts of the case and then choose to escalate pressure on a cape who has already displayed multiple WMD-scale applications as well as strategic-effect powers. I find it difficult to believe that Piggot would push for that either; like I said, her specialty is PR, which involves understanding some of the potential repercussions of escalatory pressure.
Which suggests that whatever is happening in that meeting is a bit of internal political theater.
For whose benefit, I have no idea.
Maybe there's political pressure coming in from out of city/out of state.
You bring up fantastic point that made me realized a lot of things and revise my theory.
Let me clarify what I meant by "I'm curious if Piggot seriously think Apeiron is an unstable mad tinker." I think Piggot knows Apeiron isn't your typical Mad Scientist tinker. Obviously she categorizes him as one in terms of explaining his level of power and tech, but I'm talking about the stereotype and image that such assignment is linked to.
At first my theory was that she was pushing for an appeal to emotion for the kill order meeting. Stirring fear of Apeiron in the other directors, judge, etc. During the Uppercrust interlude, the "unstable" part in her labeling of Apeiron, especially on the topic of a kill order, wasn't just purely due to the mechanics of how mad science tinkers work (meaning they're trading sanity in themselves or stability in their tech for power). She tacked on unstable to invoke an image of Apeiron being the next Bakuda or String Theory. She wants to paint Apeiron as an active threat and danger. "Apeiron is a mad scientist tinker. He's like String Theory or Bakuda, he's gonna be a danger to the public. This is why a kill order is needed." I had thought she'd leave out how he actual isn't like Bakuda or String Theory, how he's tried to minimize civilian casualties and collateral damage and how he's done his best to help.
However, that theory or thinking was flawed.
I had confused a kill order as it would be for capes you NEED to put down and that you had a degree of certainty you might need it. But this is a presigned kill order. It's more of a political tool and tool for control and limiting a cape's actions as seen with its use against Blasto. An active kill order is for capes you immediately want put down (assuming it won't make things worse like with Bakuda and her hostages).
Basically, instead of trying to get the other directors and jury into thinking Apeiron was a Bakuda or String Theory type, Piggot had planned to point out how he was NOT. Afterall, from the precedent with String Theory, it'd counter productive to her goals of getting a presigned kill order if she made it seems like Apeiron was actually that unstable.
She might still point out the dangers of mad scientists just to drive home the danger, but her point is that he's a String Theory who they can control and leverage. She still fears what he can do and will still point that out, but she at least know she needs to argue that a presigned kill order will be effective and actually not a risk. That it's something they can leverage.
I'm a bit skeptical if Piggot would so explicitly state that she wanted the presigned kill order as a political tool or as a leverage. It had seemed to me kill orders weren't supposed to be treated as political tools and should be taken seriously as something to deal with threats. However, maybe it's well known in the circle as a political tool and that's just the reality of things in the PRT.
Another interesting thing I had thought about is that assuming Piggot does get her presigned kill order (note not active so it's a leverage and political tool) what she was expecting to do with it. My thought was that the news leak was to shift the narrative and get Apeiron nervous and then to use that presign to force a meeting with Apeiron and to also use it as leverage in negotiations.
I also found it fun how you could equate the kill order to a loaded gun. It's a leverage like pointing a gun at someone. It's a threat and intimidation tactic. It's also comfort and assurance or a sense of (false) security/control. That would fit for someone like Piggot who doesn't like being in a position of weakness and always wants to be in control. The analogy also works because like a loaded gun, firing it at Apeiron is stupid. It's not gonna hurt him. Instead it's a declaration of war and intent. You shot first, you're picking the fight. The shot can't be undone or stopped the second the trigger was pulled and bullet fired. The meaning and consequences behind firing the bullet is much more than the impact of bullet itself.
The folly in a presigned kill order like using a loaded gun against Apeiron is that it wipes out any chance at a civil and affable relationship or negotiation. In this case, don't bring a gun to the negotiation tables. You're dealing with someone you already thought could be reasoned with. If you thought you could negotiate with them and talk to them from the get go, why the fuck would you start things in bad faith? Why antagonize them? Especially when you literally can't handle them and when they are way too powerful. It isn't a smart move. The gun is there only to feed and satisfy your pride/ego/inferiority complex. You're making a fool of yourself. Your best option now is a show of good faith. You're dealing with someone who you've antagonize already and they're tired of your shit. Doubled downing on your behavior is idiotic. Don't you have basic pattern recognition! It's not gonna send the right message especially when there's a lot at stake.
I think Uppercrust understood that. Hopefully the others directors do too. That's the problem with Piggot. She shoots herself in the foot. Her prejudice and distrust makes it so that from the very start, an affable relationship isn't possible. That path and option is always cut from her. She makes enemies when she could not have if she had only curb her prejudice and paranoia. Shows of trust aren't her thing. Trust is a two way street and about giving people a chance and not assuming the worse.
When I began to vision for myself if his identity got leaked due to Coil or Piggot somehow got an active kill order how Joe would flee. With that 600 HALO perk scout spaceship he could probably launch inside from his workshop with the duplicate locking the door afterwards.
Joe prime's masterfull divine drill spacecraft materlizes outside the bay 100m above the water. Piggot gets brown pants and sounds the endbringer alarm. Panic ensures. S class scenario capes gather because usually its line that.
Legend probably arrives first, then Eidoon and lastly Alexanderia if she doesnt do her chef director job. As the spacecraft gains altitude the ziz reacts to him and approaches. PRT as a whole gets browns pants. With transformers masterfull divine planetbuster weapon powered by Satan and Gaia, shoots Joe the ziz. Ziz sees its less than 1% chance to get hit. Kaboom. She gets hit because its spiral powered.
BB & PRT sees Apairon leave Earth Bet and settle on the moon.
Timeskip. Sphere's original moonbase is constructed besides a various funhouses.
Turns out that as soon as Apeiron managed shapeshifting he has been on Earth all that time with his stuff on the moon as a decoi. The end.
This should be omake material if someone wants to give a try.
A big part of the challenge of including Fallen London has been the effort needed to dive into the lore. The game has a serious time commitment as well as locked content that made getting even a basic level of understanding a challenge. My knowledge of the Rubbery Men's connections doesn't extend beyond the Flukes, and even that is a bit nebulous. It seems like even veteran players aren't completely clear on the details of the game's lore, which seems to be somewhat by design. The inability to just sit down and marathon a session of the game is also frustrating when it comes to getting a handle on things. I've had to pull a lot of my knowledge from secondary sources, so things might not line up perfectly. Of course, that seems to be par for the course in Fallen London, so maybe it's for the best.
'I posted this on the discord server and figured I should put it here too'
What if at some point Ashia asks Joe something like
"So.. you know how I helped you make that memory wipe water right"
"Of course do you need money or something?"
"No of course not the suit is more than enough it's just..
You can grant people powers too right"
"Yeah of course. I still don't see where you are going with this."
"Well, you have already proven that you can genetically modify people to make them much stronger,
and have shown that you can at least partially cure a case 53"
"I see where you are going with this but it's just a coincidence.
I mean it's not exactly possible, I triggered about a month ago"
"Yeah, I thought that too,
at least until we got a phone call from your future self asking for specific groceries"
"..."
"..." Mental trauma intensifies
Short term it might be better to escalate pressure or even have a hundred bounty hunters making things difficult for a month than to have a 'Three Blasphemies: WMD Edition' scenario in a month on a more permanent basis.
No it is not.
You're already at the point where Apeiron can whip out WMDs at will. You do NOT want to unnecessarily raise the heat on someone like this.
Witness the fact that Bakuda and Oni Lee and March STILL do not have kill orders in Brockton Bay despite the events of the last week.
March at least is a minor, but the other two are adults.
Bakuda, March and the ABB knocked out power to much of the Eastern Seaboard for a night, with untold billions in economic damage.
Consider the economic consequences if Apeiron detonates whatever caused the Dark Zone deliberately in the middle of Brockton Bay's business district in retaliation and blacks out the city for a month.
And thats one of the least lethal but most directly impactful things he could do; repeat the same thing in half a dozen major cities and he could eviscerate the economy of the United States without shooting anyone.
You know he wouldnt want to.
The PRT does not know that. And there are indications he isnt working alone, and the PRT know absolutely nothing about his confederates or their temperament, just that they might exist and have access to some of his gear.
Every analyst in the PRT's Major Threats section is probably screaming at the suits not to poke the bear further.
There's a rule with firearms: Never pull a gun if you are unwilling or unable to use it.
Basically, never make a threat you are unwilling or incapable to back up, because sooner or later someone will call you on it.
They were willing and able to kill Blasto.
Are they capable of either for Apeiron? What if he calls them on it? They know very little about the dude, his temperament, or what he'd do when pushed into a corner. His first showing was giving a teenager a knife that was used to disassemble a Ward. Overreaction is a very valid fear.
For instance, Purity is one of the chiller members of the E88 for a neoNazi.
She also executed a member of the press on video and started dropping buildings after CPS took her kid away from her. Assault the joker almost led a mutiny of the Brockton Bay Protectorate after his wife was killed, and had to be talked down.
Powers do not select for levelheaded or reasonable people.
When I began to vision for myself if his identity got leaked due to Coil or Piggot somehow got an active kill order how Joe would flee. With that 600 HALO perk scout spaceship he could probably launch inside from his workshop with the duplicate locking the door afterwards.
Joe prime's masterfull divine drill spacecraft materlizes outside the bay 100m above the water. Piggot gets brown pants and sounds the endbringer alarm. Panic ensures. S class scenario capes gather because usually its line that.
Legend probably arrives first, then Eidoon and lastly Alexanderia if she doesnt do her chef director job. As the spacecraft gains altitude the ziz reacts to him and approaches. PRT as a whole gets browns pants. With transformers masterfull divine planetbuster weapon powered by Satan and Gaia, shoots Joe the ziz. Ziz sees its less than 1% chance to get hit. Kaboom. She gets hit because its spiral powered.
BB & PRT sees Apairon leave Earth Bet and settle on the moon.
Timeskip. Sphere's original moonbase is constructed besides a various funhouses.
Turns out that as soon as Apeiron managed shapeshifting he has been on Earth all that time with his stuff on the moon as a decoi. The end.
This should be omake material if someone wants to give a try.
No it is not.
You're already at the point where Apeiron can whip out WMDs at will. You do NOT want to unnecessarily raise the heat on someone like this.
Witness the fact that Bakuda and Oni Lee and March STILL do not have kill orders in Brockton Bay despite the events of the last week.
March at least is a minor, but the other two are adults.
Bakuda, March and the ABB knocked out power to much of the Eastern Seaboard for a night, with untold billions in economic damage.
Consider the economic consequences if Apeiron detonates whatever caused the Dark Zone deliberately in the middle of Brockton Bay's business district in retaliation and blacks out the city for a month.
And thats one of the least lethal but most directly impactful things he could do; repeat the same thing in half a dozen major cities and he could eviscerate the economy of the United States without shooting anyone.
You know he wouldnt want to.
The PRT does not know that. And there are indications he isnt working alone, and the PRT know absolutely nothing about his confederates or their temperament, just that they might exist and have access to some of his gear.
Every analyst in the PRT's Major Threats section is probably screaming at the suits not to poke the bear further.
There's a rule with firearms: Never pull a gun if you are unwilling or unable to use it.
Basically, never make a threat you are unwilling or incapable to back up, because sooner or later someone will call you on it.
They were willing and able to kill Blasto.
Are they capable of either for Apeiron? What if he calls them on it? They know very little about the dude, his temperament, or what he'd do when pushed into a corner. His first showing was giving a teenager a knife that was used to disassemble a Ward. Overreaction is a very valid fear.
For instance, Purity is one of the chiller members of the E88 for a neoNazi.
She also executed a member of the press on video and started dropping buildings after CPS took her kid away from her. Assault the joker almost led a mutiny of the Brockton Bay Protectorate after his wife was killed, and had to be talked down.
Powers do not select for levelheaded or reasonable people.
So I was just rereading the part with spiral energy. And it occurred to me that his parents just got the worst parents in the history of Earth Bet award.
Due to their shitty parenting the endbringers can't be killed right now. Talk about how bad the consequences of bad parenting be.
To be fair, they aren't the worst parents out there, not even close. But the consequences of their bad parenting is just so bad that it gets them the award.
I mean if someone asked you how bad your parents are to your mental health and your answer is "the endbringers are still alive", you can't really top that.
So I was just rereading the part with spiral energy. And it occurred to me that his parents just got the worst parents in the history of Earth Bet award.
Due to their shitty parenting the endbringers can't be killed right now. Talk about how bad the consequences of bad parenting be.
To be fair, they aren't the worst parents out there, not even close. But the consequences of their bad parenting is just so bad that it gets them the award.
I mean if someone asked you how bad your parents are to your mental health and your answer is "the endbringers are still alive", you can't really top that.
I mean, if Joe could go full Simon straight out the box he probably would have triggered the anti-spiral endgame last chapter. So Endbringers are still a thing but something a million times worse didn't immediately show up either.
Still bad parenting, but there were some fortuitous outcomes from it. Also, kill one and the rest start showing up, several at a time. How about instead of killing them he row row fight the coding and hack the bastards
Due to the recent omake regarding a PHO Interlude, and the sheer potential of portraying the public's response (factions included, but not limited to, Capes, PRT, public opinion, and Netizens )to Apeiron and the events related to him, I am seriously considering opening up a thread that would be dedicated for BCF PHO roleplaying to help other people wanting to write their own PHO interludes but have trouble with writing dialogue reflecting the in-universe's internet's reactions.
The main reason why is because I see all of the PHO omakes and think they are somewhat lacking in the public response to the main post, which for me is the point of such omakes.
What do you guys think? Is there any precedent for this?
Yes, there is a precedent for PHO roleplay threads, although I don't know what exact subforum it would go to here on SV. And I would gladly help out in that thread, since I enjoy roleplay.
I got the idea from the Discord server for Projection Quest, a Worm fanfic, where there is a dedicated channel for PHO roleplay. I managed to make a PHO omake with the help of the discord people, but it was hard to organize everything.
For me, it's better to start a thread for better storage and backtracking for people wanting to join in/wanting to search for a particular post they like. It's much more organized too.
Yes, there is a precedent for PHO roleplay threads, although I don't know what exact subforum it would go to here on SV. And I would gladly help out in that thread, since I enjoy roleplay.
Really? I'm glad. I've already asked the admins in the private questions forum so I'm just waiting for that. I think I would wait until I get 10 people willing to vouch for the idea before making such a thread, though.
All case 53's have 4 characteristics
1.total amnesia
2.monstrous form (heavily mutated body)
3.powers
4. cauldron mark
Basically what Ashia is implying is that Joe is the only person they know of who has the means to create the case 53s
Of course, from *our* perspective we know that it is false and that Cauldron is the one creating them.
So far Joe has expressed interest in helping cure the case 53s and is very close. this basically comes to 'if he can cure them, can he make them?'
Joe meets pretty much all the requirements to create case 53 and if not is pretty close/could be explained as experimenting on capes.
And I remember somewhere that Lord confirmed Joe could make a time travel phone with SSS that would fail spectacularly if used for anything but housework.
This revelation would be like a throat punch to his original Trigger biotinker phobia because suddenly there is a whole bunch of signs popping up
and pointing in a direction he really doesn't want to think about (him experimenting on enemies then sending them back in time to cover it up)
TLDR: Joe finds out he has the means, motive, and opportunity to create the case 53s and send them back in time. This would result in bad times for Joe.
