Let's read Worm and its sequel Ward by Wildbow (One chapter/every day)

blackarrow · Jul 29, 2018

KnownParadox said:
Im pretty sure he only explained what his halberd and techno armour does, and offered the most bare bones explanation.

How did he build the dozens of micro components? What powers them? How do they fit together, how do the nanothorns work? What powers them? How do then nanobots work together, or not accidentally create a Worm version of the "Grey Goo"?

How did he make the halberd blade freeze in time? What type of technology makes that happen and what powers it? How does the small than helmet sized prediction software calculate and predict the movements of humans?

How does- actually you know what? I think that's enough questions for old Armsy to answer, but I doubt he could explain and write down his work in any meaningful way.

And most Tinkers aren't any better. Aside from probably Dragon, but she's amazing anyway.

And actually, I don't expect Wildbow to explain those questions in written word anyway, if he could explain all that he wouldn't be writing a web Serial on Wordpress. He'd be like, a billionaire or something.

Sorry for the rant, again.

Dragon is amazing ONLY because she was build like this by a Tinker. He made her like this. Andrew was the amazing person who build a very useful AI. Honestly, I appreciate Andrew more than Dragon.
Colin is very arrogant. What if he DOESN'T WANT to tell anyone how he made his stuff so nobody can replicate them? Maybe he doesn't want a mass-production of his tech. Yes, this is selfish from him but he was never a selfless person to begin with. Even in real life, there are geniuses who refused to tell how they did/discovered certain things because they didn't want other people to copy their work. As for evil Tinkers, they'll never tell anyway how they did what they did because they don't want to risk for heroes or other villains to use their knowledge against them. Well, I'll never deny that there are not stupid Tinkers too. But most of them are just amazing, even if some of them are also crazy and very arrogant. Plus they're more unpredictable than anyone else. No wonder why they're my favorite Classification.

My second favorites are Thinkers.
I hope one day Wildbow will explain every single Classification in his own words, in great details.

Btw, do you have favorite Classifications?

rafuki22 · Jul 29, 2018

blackarrow said:
I usually compare Colin with Tony Stark (Iron Man). Tony is one of the greatest geniuses of superhero universe, and nobody can doubt of his brilliance. He was born a genius, not gained some weird alien powers. If Colin will be able to explain how his stuff works in the same manner Tony have no problem to explain, then he's truly a genius. But he already explained how his halberd and his techno- armor worked, also he explained his plan to take down Leviathan (a VERY good plan destroyed only by his stupid arrogance and his ruthless willingness to sacrifice other people) so....Coil is a genius and a Tinker indeed. Bonesaw can explain how her stuff works too, I can see her as a genius as well. So far Kid Win, Bakuda and Mannequin never explained how they did what they did (Squealer and Leet DOESN'T MATTER). Well, Bakuda was too busy getting rid of Undersiders to have time for explanations, Mannequin can't speak anyway and Kid Win...he never explained anything but he still have time to prove himself that he doesn't have only the instinctive ability to be very good at tech but also enough brains in his head.
I'm just fascinated with geniuses and scientists in general, ok?

With or without arrogance, Colin's plan was doomed to failure from the start.
About the tinkers ... I will not try to convince you, I'll wait until the end, to see if you change your mind.

rafuki22 · Jul 29, 2018

blackarrow said:
Humans hate mutants in X-Men because they're afraid of their powers and some ruthless and bigot politicians encouraged this hate. Yes, its stupid, like any kind of hate for a whole group of people, in general. People are afraid of what they don't know, what they don't understand, they're influenced by the public figures they blindly trust, but some of them are also envious, on the principle- you have powers, life is more easy for you, but I don't have powers so I hate you for having powers. But there were also mutants who hate people too (Magneto and his mutants), so HATE is not only by one side. This make X-Men so realistic and beautiful- despite being about superpowered people, it also show how wrong, twisted, corrupted some of humans are and how easy is for them to hate, instead of trying to understand and accept someone who's a bit different from them.

Worm is also realistic, one could argue that more, or less.

rafuki22 · Jul 29, 2018

blackarrow said:
Dragon is amazing ONLY because she was build like this by a Tinker. He made her like this. Andrew was the amazing person who build a very useful AI. Honestly, I appreciate Andrew more than Dragon.
Colin is very arrogant. What if he DOESN'T WANT to tell anyone how he made his stuff so nobody can replicate them? Maybe he doesn't want a mass-production of his tech. Yes, this is selfish from him but he was never a selfless person to begin with. Even in real life, there are geniuses who refused to tell how they did/discovered certain things because they didn't want other people to copy their work. As for evil Tinkers, they'll never tell anyway how they did what they did because they don't want to risk for heroes or other villains to use their knowledge against them. Well, I'll never deny that there are not stupid Tinkers too. But most of them are just amazing, even if some of them are also crazy and very arrogant. Plus they're more unpredictable than anyone else. No wonder why they're my favorite Classification. My second favorites are Thinkers.
I hope one day Wildbow will explain every single Classification in his own words, in great details.
Btw, do you have favorite Classifications?

Colin is arrogant, but in the end he is a hero who believes in justice.
And I think it has been clarified that tinkertech technology can not be mass produced.
My favorite rating would be trump.
Edit:You are denying individuality to dragon by thinking that it is incredible only by its creator, it is an AI, it can learn and grow by itself, it is not just the creation of a tinker.
Not to mention that if dragon did not have his restrictions, the dragonslayers would not be a problem.
But now you will say that Andrew was right to, basically, lobotomize a sapient being of which he is a father.
That paranoid attitude caused Andrew to put restrictions on the dragon, denying all the good she could do.
And so you know, not all AIs are skynet or XANA.

AmbarGriss · Jul 29, 2018

Nobody said:
Don't you mean they hate them because of the psychic bacteria?

OMG, that reveal was garbage.

rafuki22 · Jul 29, 2018

AmbarGriss said:
OMG, that reveal was garbage.

What? Explain please?

Prince Ire · Jul 29, 2018

rafuki22 said:
What? Explain please?

From what I understand, it was revealed that the real reason people hated mutants (but not people like Spiderman, Captain America, etc.) and why people's parents would instantly turn on them is because mutants are immune to a space bacteria that has infected all humans and forces humans to hate the mutants since it can't infect them.

rafuki22 · Jul 29, 2018

Prince Ire said:
From what I understand, it was revealed that the real reason people hated mutants (but not people like Spiderman, Captain America, etc.) and why people's parents would instantly turn on them is because mutants are immune to a space bacteria that has infected all humans and forces humans to hate the mutants since it can't infect them.

In another series that would make sense, in marvel ... it's stupid.

blackarrow · Jul 29, 2018

Prince Ire said:
From what I understand, it was revealed that the real reason people hated mutants (but not people like Spiderman, Captain America, etc.) and why people's parents would instantly turn on them is because mutants are immune to a space bacteria that has infected all humans and forces humans to hate the mutants since it can't infect them.

I never heard about this reason for humans hating mutants in Marvel. And I read a lot of Marvel comics. Can you give me the link to the comic where it is specified that a space bacteria made people hate humans? I'm not going to argue with you over this, maybe I don't remember. Thanks.

ExNihilo · Jul 29, 2018

blackarrow said:
I never heard about this reason for humans hating mutants in Marvel. And I read a lot of Marvel comics. Can you give me the link to the comic where it is specified that a space bacteria made people hate humans? I'm not going to argue with you over this, maybe I don't remember. Thanks.

Sublime (Marvel Comics) - Wikipedia

It really undercuts the whole 'mutants as a metaphor for racial tensions' thing though, so I think it's stupid.

blackarrow · Jul 29, 2018

rafuki22 said:
Colin is arrogant, but in the end he is a hero who believes in justice.
And I think it has been clarified that tinkertech technology can not be mass produced.
My favorite rating would be trump.
Edit:You are denying individuality to dragon by thinking that it is incredible only by its creator, it is an AI, it can learn and grow by itself, it is not just the creation of a tinker.
Not to mention that if dragon did not have his restrictions, the dragonslayers would not be a problem.
But now you will say that Andrew was right to, basically, lobotomize a sapient being of which he is a father.
That paranoid attitude caused Andrew to put restrictions on the dragon, denying all the good she could do.
And so you know, not all AIs are skynet or XANA.

I like Dragon but not so much because well, I'm not a fan of AIs/robots. I was never a fan before and I'll not see myself becoming a fan in the future. But, from my point of view, I agree with restrictions because these restrictions help Dragon remain a hero. Imagine Dragon turning into a villain because- not having any restrictions and having too much individuality- maybe she'll decide that is better to do evil than good. She can become very dangerous for the world. Andrew limited her so she'll never turn into a destructive AI. I don't want to bother anyone, but this is just my humble opinion. Maybe if Colin will find a way to remove her restrictions, she can choose to remain good. Or maybe she'll turn evil. But does this risk is really worth it? Of course you know, you know the story, I don't know what will happen in the future with the characters and I'm usually a paranoiac person so...I hope you understand.

PS: Judging from an ethical perspective, limited Dragon is something cruel and unfair. Judging from a rational perspective, might be good and safe. Depends how you judge what Andrew did.

blackarrow · Jul 29, 2018

ExNihilo said:
Sublime (Marvel Comics) - Wikipedia

It really undercuts the whole 'mutants as a metaphor for racial tensions' thing though, so I think it's stupid.

Wow, thank you, I didn't know about this and I'm a fan of Marvel Universe. Now I feel kind of stupid for not knowing. And yes, this is the most stupid explanation someone could think at. The mutants hate as racial tensions MADE MORE SENSE than this shit of an explanation. What was in the writers' mind to come up with this? But this doesn't mean I like X-Men less. Most of characters are very complex and awesome, their powers are cool (not so original as Worm powers but cool anyway) and the fights (and action in general) are always exciting. I'll just try to pretend that this explanation never existed.

blackarrow · Jul 29, 2018

Hello, romantic souls and less romantic souls. Last Interlude was one of the most romantic Chapters/Interludes I laid my eyes on. It started with Brian struggling to overcome his trauma, and ended with Brian hugging the girl he started to have a strong crush on. The girl who helped him with his trauma more than anyone else did. This is the third established on screen relationship until now (after Dean and Victoria and Ethan and Jamie). There are still Colin and Dragon and Lily and Sabah but nothing is established yet between them (they like each other however). Anyway, I'm very ok with as little as I get in the matter of romance. Much better than nothing. I was going to say: let's see how this ship will evolve, but right now I'm more interested to see how Undersiders' plan will evolve, because Coil is the number one priority in my books. Love can come later.
PS: Colin/Dragon relationship, even confirmed, is still awkward, until Dragon will get a working, human looking body. Then I'll not have anything else to object about them.
Colony 15.4

Sundancer had once described her life in costume as intense, violent and lonely. I'd had a hard time understanding the last point. That had been about the same time that I had been riding the high of having friends for the first time, after a couple of years spent in almost total solitude.

Maybe, if the subject had come up again in recent weeks, I might have understood, nodding my head in sympathy.
Powers raised us above the common people. It was maybe arrogant to think that way, to say I was better than the likes of Sierra, Charlotte or my father, but I sort of was. I had all the potential they did and then more.
Even if I looked at how powers elevated us, though, I had to admit we weren't raised to the same level. We weren't all raised up together. If anything, the powers drove us apart: our trigger events, our reasons for wanting to use our powers, the agendas and missions we took upon ourselves, and even how those powers made us think and operate in different ways… they put barriers between ourselves and others. I just had to think of Panacea or Bitch, and I had some damn good examples of that.
I couldn't think of two capes who were in a committed relationship where there wasn't some degree of fucked-up-ness. Night and Fog were, if I'd understood Tattletale right, essentially functional sociopaths. They'd acted out the role of a married couple with none of the affection or fondness. Victor and Othala were screwed up in a different way, burdened by a shared event in their past. Brandish and Flashbang? If their kids were any indication… yeah. Fucked up.
It was no small wonder we were all so fucked up. It was the human condition, to need a supporting hand now and again, and yet we could barely help ourselves, let alone each other.
Worse, if by some small miracle two capes managed to find comfort and support in each other, there was no guarantee that those other two points that Sundancer had raised wouldn't ruin things. The intensity of our lifestyle and the sheer violence. Lady Photon had lost her husband in the Leviathan fight. Glory Girl had, if the magazines and papers were any indication, maintained an on-and-off relationship with Gallant. He'd died too.
So this? Lying here beside Brian? It was sort of bittersweet, with maybe a 60-40 split on the sweet vs. the bitter.

I was talking about romance and ships and guess what? Taylor is talking about romance and ships too.

Great timing. But unlike me, who have a pretty positive view of romantic businesses, Taylor manages to be as negative as she's in all other things she's thinking about. She sees romanticism between parahumans as something that is doomed to fail, never lasting too much. I only agree with her from the point of view of their dangerous lives. Of course their relationships will be destroyed by their always perilous lives, no matter if they're heroes and villains or even rogues. Just look at Jamie and Ethan. They clearly were happy together but with Jamie's death, their happiness was ruined. But this is the only reason for parahumans to suck at relationship. I can't see other reasons the way that Miss Positivism is seeing. Powers doesn't affect their relationship, only in small cases like Elle, Lisa, Rachel. But Brian can have a working relationship. The same goes for Taylor, Aisha, Amy (as long as she's careful with her power) and so on. Another reason might be their mental problems, since some of parahumans are not exactly sane. But there are a lot of mental troubled non-powered humans, there are a lot of non-powered humans incapable to have a working relationship. Not just parahumans, Taylor. Depends of every single individual. I think that if you continue to think like this, you might doom your relationship even before properly starting. But if you'll have a little more TRUST in your choices, I think your life with Brian would be pretty ok. Not excellent, because both of you have a lot of troubles, but good enough. A little more trust, Taylor, please. Btw, despite disliking them because of what they're, I think Victor and Othala's relationship can actually work if Victor will start reciprocate Othala's feelings for him. She clearly loves him and she's ready of any sacrifice for him, including letting him cheat on her or leave her for other woman if he's not happy with her. I don't know about Night and Fog but I can see why they have troubles in paradise "cough"Night's power"cough".

I couldn't see Brian's face without raising my head, and I didn't want to do that and risk waking him. I'd left my glasses on the table with the knife and gun, so I couldn't see that well anyways. I settled for studying the fabric of his sleeveless shirt, the nubs of lint, the weave of the textile, and how it shifted with the slow, deep and rhythmic breaths he was taking. I could smell his sweat, with the faint traces of his deodorant beneath. It was funny, because when we'd settled in, I hadn't been able to smell anything.

I felt warm in the core of my chest. That wasn't just the morning light streaming in through the windows.
Not happy, exactly. I didn't feel like I deserved to be happy, not with the responsibilities I wasn't attending to right now, not with the mistakes I'd made and the people I'd failed.
But I could convince myself that this was something I should be doing. It was one of the tasks that I had to tend to, no matter how the coming days and weeks unfolded, and we'd settled on making those tasks a priority. We had to support Grue if we wanted him around to help us when everything started going down.
I wouldn't rest any hopes on this, not with the way every other parahuman relationship seemed to go. I'd take these individual moments for what they were.
All of which amounted to a pile of excuses and rationalizations I was layering on top of one another, trying to convince myself this wouldn't end disastrously, that I wasn't being irresponsible or that I wasn't going to regret this on a hundred different levels. It was enough that I could feel at peace, here.
Mostly at peace. I had to pee, and yet I didn't want to move and disturb him.
Nothing was easy, it seemed.
My body won out over my willpower, and I decided to extricate myself. I didn't even try to get to my feet, instead easing myself down to the ground as I unwrapped myself from Brian as slowly as I could.
Once I'd disentangled myself from Brian and the couch, I grabbed my glasses, knife, cellphone and gun and rushed to the washroom.
The cell phone rang while I was on the toilet. Tattletale. For Brian's sake and my own sense of decency, I refused the call and texted her instead:
What's up?
She replied soon after:
R is done. Bird in the pen 4 now. C wants a meeting neways. Get G I and come 4 11am?
So it was time to see if Brian could glean anything from Victor's power. I responded:
G sleeping. Don't want to wake him.
I could guess her reply before it appeared:
hate to break u 2 lovebirds up but we r tight on time and C is impatient
I texted her an a-ok before hanging up and putting the phone away.
The kitchen had been cleaned up, but my bugs hadn't alerted me to anyone coming in. Had Aisha returned and used her power to stay quiet?
I decided to assume she had and began preparing breakfast for three people.
If I had to rouse Brian, I'd do it with the smells of bacon, coffee and toast. It was as inoffensive a method as I could think of.
Aisha woke up before Brian did, venturing downstairs in a long t-shirt.
"Thanks for cleaning up," I said, quiet. I could remember her reaction the last time I'd been talking to Brian, and added, "And for not getting upset."
"I can't help him, don't know how. So I'm putting it in your hands."
"Thanks."
"Don't thank me. If you screw this up, I can and will make your life a living hell."

While Taylor keeps thinking that she doesn't deserve this happiness, because she did some "awful" things and she feels like her relationship with Brian will fail only because they're parahumans- you know, the usual stuff someone like Taylor can't help but think at- Aisha was pretty diligent as she cleaned the kitchen and prepared the breakfast. She also have no qualms to warn Taylor that if she'll screw up her relationship with Brian, she'll destroy her life. Well, Aisha, I appreciate so much how protective you're towards your brother, but for Taylor, if she'll ever end her lovestory with Brian, isn't because she'd want to do that, is because of the wrong way she's thinking. I hope that she'll realize that such negative thinking will never bring anything good in her life and she'll change her attitude, giving herself more credit for her action and trust in her decisions.

I frowned. "Honestly? That's not very fair. I think I probably will screw up along the way. This isn't going to be smooth sailing, whatever happens. So maybe it'd be better if you just trust that I'm going into this with the best intentions for him."

She plucked a piece of bacon from a plate and popped it into her mouth. "Maybe. But no. Don't fuck this up."
I rolled my eyes.
"I've had a lot of practice. It's the little things, convincing someone they're going crazy, nothing they put down is where they left it. Things go missing. Furniture gets moved. Then it gets more serious, they find the stash of drugs they were supposed to barter for stuff is missing-"
"I don't have any drugs," I told her.
"Talking hy-po-theticals. I get them in trouble with people they know. Then they have little injures they can't remember getting.
Splinters under their fingernails, papercuts between their fingers or at the corners of their mouths, little cuts on the back of their hands. That's usually when they freak out. They run, go somewhere else, and it stops, just a little while. Until it comes again, twice as bad as before. They snap. Then I leave them a message telling them that it all stops when they leave the city. Put it on their walls in blood or put it on their bathroom mirror in soap so it shows up when the room gets all steamy. They're glad. They're happy to have a way out. Except I wouldn't leave you that note."
"What the hell are you talking about?" Brian asked, from behind her. "And where are you getting that blood?"
Aisha wheeled around, not appearing even half as guilty as she should have.
"I asked Coil's lieutenant for some. He asked me how many gallons I wanted. How weird is that? I mean, seriously, who needs gallons of blood? Or maybe I could use it. Paint someone's house, see if I can't freak them out hardcore," Aisha smiled wickedly.
"Ignore that question. What were you saying to Taylor, about not giving her a note?"
"It's fine," I told him. "She's being protective of her big brother."
Aisha plastered a fake smile on her face.
"I didn't know you cared," Brian told Aisha, with a touch of sarcasm. "I'm dropping this only because Taylor's sticking up for you."
Aisha rolled her eyes and began serving herself.
It was nine-thirty. Assuming it would take us half an hour to forty-five minutes to get to Coil's place, that left us only about an hour to get ready. We ate in awkward silence. Aisha took the first turn in the shower, leaving Brian and me alone once again.

OMG, Aisha would be a very good addition in the category of horror movies villains. A ghost who isn't exactly a ghost- you can't see her, you can't hear her, you are unaware of her presence, but she's all alive and as human as you're, and day by day she scares you until you either become paranoiac and you leave the city, kill yourself or get crazy. This summer's blockbuster: The Attack of the Psychic Ghost. You can "summon" Psychic Ghost by being an asshole and: invading her territory or bothering Brian. You can't get rid of her unless you have a camera and a gun. But she's a pretty good fighter too and might disarm you faster than you're thinking. Who'll survive to the Psychic Ghost?

Taylor, be very careful, this girl might be a little trickster, but she isn't joking at all. She'll do to you what she promised if her brother is not happy with you.

I didn't know what to do with myself. We had taken a step forward, but I didn't exactly have any experience on this front. What was I supposed to do? What did I say? I wanted to hug him, to hold his hand or raise the idea of spending time together later, but I didn't know what was allowed, or what would be pushing boundaries or taking things too far.

He sat down on the couch, putting his feet up on the coffee table, and I grabbed a glass of orange juice before sitting down next to him. Would he put his arm around me, or-
"This thing with Coil. Do you have a plan?"
Opportunity missed.
I shook my head. "More like I have a bunch of smaller plans. Can't commit to anything, in case things unfold in an unexpected way."
"Okay. Let's talk about them. Plan A?"
"I whip my territory into shape, Coil decides that it's more valuable to keep me in his service. The idea is that he values my ability to keep an area stable more than he values having Dinah. He lets her go."
"Not likely."
I frowned. "I almost gave up on it after Burnscar torched everything. It isn't that impossible."
"Think about what it would mean in terms of security leaks. If he let Dinah go home to her family, she wouldn't be able to return to her normal life. If Coil was dumb enough to let her go with no safeguards and without people to watch her, then the heroes would swoop in on her and use her to get him."
I nodded, glum.
"And really, can you honestly say that your services are worth the cost of everything you're taking from Coil in the way of resources, plus the cost of the agents he'd need watching Dinah at all hours?"
"So you think he'll say no."
"Tattletale thinks that Coil may be considering dropping you from the team once he has what he needs."
I turned to look at Brian. His forehead was creased in a frown.
"You think I'm expendable."
"To Coil? Possibly."
I nodded.
"It's something to keep in mind," he said.
"Thing is, I don't know how that really changes anything. Should I stop helping the people in my territory? I'm not going to. It wouldn't be fair to them, and it would tip Coil off."
"I think it was a bad idea to tip him off by making the deal in the first place. Now he knows you've got pretty strong morals. On a level, anyways."
I nodded. On a level.
He went on, "I imagine it's troublesome to have someone with those sorts of moral concerns that could throw his long-term plan off course. He might be looking to replace you."
"And with his power, that might make for a bit of a pinch."
"His power?"
I paused. "Tattletale clued me in. He creates parallel realities. Makes two different decisions, and he gets to see the outcome of each as they unfold. Decides which he wants in the end."
Brian frowned. "And he's been doing that with us?"
"Since before I joined the team. Send us on a job in one reality, keep us back in another. If we succeed, great. If we fail… well, nothing lost. He deletes the reality where he sent us out."
He rubbed his chin. I noticed he had stubble. "So he gets two tries at everything. Including dealing with any of us who cause him any trouble."
I nodded. "Which is why we need to play along for as long as possible."
"Fair. What's your plan B?"
"Plan B… well, it's not so much a plan as a fallback. If I get found out before we make any headway, it means fighting Coil and his underlings."
"The Travelers and Circus included."

Brian is more REALISTIC than Taylor.

He's convinced that Coil will never free Dinah even if Taylor will conquest the whole US for him. Dinah is too important for him- power wise, he's not the right guy who usually keeps his word, besides a free Dinah can destroy him, by knowing too much about him- true, she have no idea about his civilian identity, but if the heroes will ask her the right questions about Coil's future activity, she'll have no problem to answer precisely to them, and if they'll put the pieces of information together, they might find out who Coil is and take the City back from him. Coil is not stupid to lose his most important "ally"/weapon (and probably his life/freedom in the process) over a girl holding a territory for him. As for the plan B, I hope that you'll never use it because while you might defeat Circus, I'm not sure how many chances they have to beat up a guy who can turn the whole battlefield into a mess by teleporting everyone around, another guy who can kill someone by touching them, a girl who can burn half of a City with her sun, if its big enough and another girl who create some pretty strong projections. I mean, Travelers, if they choose to use their powers without restrictions, might prove to be a challenge almost as big as S9 for Undersiders. Hope the plan A will work without many problems.

"Tattletale and I have talked about how we might approach that. The problem is that Coil would be backing them up. Normally I'd suggest we go on the offensive, so they don't have time to go after our weaknesses, but with Coil at work, we have to assume that it's all the more likely that the Travelers would get that one lucky hit off, or that they'd pick the plan of attack that would work out for them."

"And they're powerful enough that they'd really only need to get lucky once," Brian said. I saw his expression darken. He was staring off into space.
"Sorry," I said. Impulsively, I leaned closer, so my arm and shoulder pressed against his arm.
"Hm?"
"If you want to talk about something else-"
"I want to make sure we come out of this alive."
"But it's stressing you out."
"I'll manage," he answered, putting one arm around my shoulders and hugging me close.
But he didn't raise the subject again. Aisha got out of the shower, he took the next turn, ostensibly to clean up after her. I took the brief period of quiet to get my stuff in order. I'd worn my costume under my clothes, the top and dress portion bound around my waist, beneath the sweatshirt.
Once I was free to use the shower, I pulled off the costume and hung it up. The steam would help with any wrinkles for the parts that weren't skintight.
I had to admit to being a little disappointed with the way the morning was unfolding. Part of that was with myself, not knowing how to act, but part of it was with the lack of romance. Rationally, I knew that the movies, TV, books and all that, they didn't paint a realistic picture. I knew that we wouldn't instantaneously click, that everything would be fixed.
But at the core of it all, I wasn't a hundred percent rational.
Had to take what I could get. Last night, cuddling? It had been nice. Really nice.
All in all, we were ready to move out well ahead of time.
I wracked my brain, trying to think of things to say. Everything social or romantic seemed forced or awkward, especially with Imp there. Everything related to our costumed selves seemed too delicate, fraught with reminders for Brian.
Each time I entered Coil's headquarters, it seemed like it had transformed. On our first visit it had been a bare bones setup with piles upon piles of crates, and soldiers congregating wherever there was room. Our last visit had seen some organization. Now it had finally taken form.
The interior was divided into two levels. The lower level sported a cafeteria, a bar, a small computer lab and bunk beds for the soldiers on standby. Doorways leading to what I suspected were washrooms. I knew that Coil had squads positioned across the city by now, in quarters not unlike the lairs he had assigned us, if a little more austere. Anyone who stayed here had the bare necessities.
There was an area with more of a focus on the actual 'war' part of soldiering, with men at the ready to hand out the guns and ammunition that were tidily arranged on racks and shelves, a massive laundry room that appeared to be devoted to washing and preparing the uniforms and two more stations for heavier gear and more esoteric stuff like walkie-talkies and explosives.
The upper level was pretty plain, with a metal walkway bridging the gaps to the doorways that were recessed in the concrete walls. Still, things had been added, including whiteboards with shift schedules and maps very similar to the one I'd seen in Tattletale's base of operations.
I glanced at one map; our territory had expanded somewhat. Or maybe it was better to say that the pockets of enemy forces that had lurked at the edges of our territory were collapsing.
Cranston, the blond woman who served as one of Coil's liasons to us, who was my contact when I needed something, was standing outside the door to the conference room.
"Skitter. How are you?"
"I'm fine, Ms. Cranston."
"You're a bit early. Can I offer you anything while you wait for Coil to arrive?"
I shook my head.
"Grue? Imp?"
They refused as well.
"It'll only be a few minutes."
Grue and Imp stepped away to talk to the fat, short man who I took to be theirliason. I stepped over to the railing and watched the scene below.
A group far to my left caught my eye. I ventured closer.
Trickster, Sundancer, Genesis and Ballistic were gathered around Tattletale, joined by Coil and a blond boy with striking good looks. I couldn't really get a good look at it from my vantage point, but the wall jutted out beneath the walkway, and there was a heavy vault door set into the concrete, similar to the ones I'd seen at the shelters.
Noelle.

Brian agrees with me that Travelers will not be easy for Undersiders if they'll ever fight with them. And no way that they'll ever convince Travelers to join them against Coil, because Trickster and his people are still naive enough to believe in Coil's word about fixing Noelle. Hmm, why every single time when Oliver appears, he's described as a looking good boy? I don't know anything about his power, but I have the suspicion that this constant description of his looks might tell me something about his power. What if he can hypnotize people and everytime when someone tries to hurt him, they'll change their mind because they'll be fascinated by his looks and can't bring themselves to attack someone so pretty? So, as long as he uses his power, he's immune against any attack. Then he can stab/shoot people who are then very surprised that someone so beautiful like him is willing to kill them. Either this power or any other weird power who make him more dangerous than he appears at the first glance.

Tattletale was shaking her head as she talked. She gestured toward the door.

I could see the Travelers respond to that. Trickster folding his arms, Sundancer turning away slightly. Genesis, in her wheelchair, hung her head just a bit, her mop of hair blocking the view.
They weren't hearing what they wanted to hear.
Tattletale touched the wall, some panel or button system, said something, and then turned away, walking towards the staircase. The Travelers and Coil followed behind.
"Everything okay?" I asked Tattletale, as she joined me.
"Oh, not really," she gave me a tight smile.
"Fill me in later?"
"Can't. Sworn to secrecy."
"Uh huh. You know, for someone who calls herself Tattletale, you're way too fond of keeping secrets."
"Believe me, some secrets aren't so fun to keep."
I frowned. What was going on there?
I could only trust that she'd inform us when we weren't in earshot of Coil and the Travelers.
Bitch and Regent were waiting outside the conference room as we approached. I gave Bitch a small nod of acknowledgement, and she returned it. All together, we got seated; Travelers on one side of the table, Undersiders on the other, Coil at the head.
"I understand that things have been hectic since the Nine departed the city. Communications are difficult to establish, there's still lasting damage from the Endbringer attack, and everyone has their individual concerns. Before our focus fell on the Nine and eliminating Jack Slash, I told you to establish your territories and do what you could to effect some sort of control. As Tattletale may not have all of the necessary information to draw the right conclusions, I'd like each of you to inform us on your progress."
He gestured to Trickster.
"Putting me on the spot, huh?" Trickster asked. "Dunno. Nobody's doing business in my neighborhood, and there aren't any crooks there that the public knows about, but Purity and her people are still hanging around, and I'm waiting on my teammates to wrap up their stuff so they can lend me a hand."
"Infrastructure, recruitment?" Coil prompted.
"I've made a few small steps forward for each of those things. I offered some of the low-level thugs the option of moving out of the city or serving under me.
Got a half-and-half split of each, more or less. Enough people to deal product, if you want, or to scare some people."
"Good. Sundancer?"
Sundancer had the posture of someone who'd desperately hoped to avoid being called on in class. "I don't know. I've been working with the maps Tattletale provided me, but I'm not good at this. I burn them out of whatever place they're holed up in, they run, then half the time it's like they settle somewhere else that's nearby."
"You have to scare them more," Trickster said.
"I burn their houses down. I don't know why that's not scary enough."
"You're too soft about it, being too careful to let them know what you're doing and when, because you don't want to hurt them and they can tell."
Coil cleared his throat. "How far along?"
Sundancer didn't look happy. "I dunno. I've maybe cleared out one in four of the local groups?"
"Genesis?" Coil asked.
"Mostly clear," Genesis replied, leaning forward and putting her elbows on the table, "Not sure how to get anything going in the way of operations. It's not exactly heavily populated territory."
"You're keeping Noelle company tonight, yes?"
Genesis nodded.
"Then we'll discuss it then."
"Okay."
"And Ballistic?"
"Further along than him," Ballistic jerked a thumb toward Trickster. "Nobody doing business in my area, only two capes hanging around. Got that girl from Dolltown who's pretty insistent on holding onto her neighborhood, even if pretty much everyone that lived there is dead, now. It's the only spot that I haven't taken over."
"I see. And the second cape?"
"There's a kid from the old Merchants group. Has powers. Going to try to scare off the Doll girl and recruit the Merchant kid."

Everyone is trying hard to take care of their territories for Coil, while Skitter is like light yeard ahead of them in terms of keeping her enemies away from her territory, taking care of her people, getting minions/followers, rebuilding it after it was destroyed by fire, and all of this without doing any illegal businesses, just spending Coil's infinite money. Bitches, you can never compete with the Queen Bee. She's very devoted to her Hive and her workers-bees. As for you, Ballistic, I'll go all ballistic on you if you'll hurt Parian

. Parian should be left alone, she already suffered too much without doing anything wrong. Another problem, hope that he'll fail to recruit Scrub because with Scrub in their team, Travelers will become almost invincible.

"You might start with remembering their names," Genesis pointed out.

"I'm not a cape geek like you."
"You're a cape."
"Parian and Scrub?" I spoke up, hoping to keep them from going off on a tangent.
"Sure. Sounds right," Ballistic conceded.
"If you're dealing with Parian, can I come along?"
"Actually," Coil said, "I had a request to make of you, Skitter."
I turned my attention to him.
"After," he told me. "Let me get to the main topic of this meeting before I address it. For now, I'd like to hear how the Undersiders are coming along."
"Been busy helping everyone else out," Tattletale admitted. "Like Trickster, I guess, I'm waiting for others to finish what they're doing. I'm pretty solid for business, though. Bringing in more cash than I'm spending."
"What's the business?" Trickster asked.
"The big one is reclaiming items and homes. I offer goodies to any people from the shelter willing to band together and scare them off, anything too difficult, I use the mercenaries you provided. Coil's hooked me up with some banking services so we can actually make the transactions. People don't have a lot of use for money with the way things are right now, and they dohave stuff that they value. Figure a few hundred to a thousand dollars per job, three or four jobs a day, and they're sort of doing my work for us, dealing with the gang members."
"With the idea that your teammates will claim the areas at a later date," Coil said, his voice firm.
"Right."
"Grue and Imp?"
I saw Grue hesitate.
"Seventy-five percent clear," Imp said. "The Chosen and leftover Merchants mainly moved into our territory and Regent's. Maybe we're not a hundred percent done, but when we scare people off, they stay gone."
"Good. Can you drive out the remaining threats in the next two days?"
"Got this far in three, don't see why not."
"Excellent. Regent?"
"About the same. Nobody wants to cross Shatterbird, but lots of people keep popping up, moving in because they're oblivious that she's there. With no radio or TV, they're clueless."
"Make it more obvious, then."
Regent nodded.
"Bitch?"
"Nobody left in my territory."
"No threats?"
"Nobody."
Coil sighed, "I did tell you that you could run your territory as you wished. Still, that's not ideal. Would you object to a rearrangement of territory? I would grant you more overall area to control, but it would be limited to the outskirts of the city."
"So long as it's mine."
"Good. And Skitter?"
I shrugged. "No threats, nobody's daring to pop their heads in."
"Then consider working on rooting out the individuals too afraid to show themselves, before they cause a problem."
"They're dealt with," I said.
"Explain?"
"I'm doing two sweeps through my territory every day. Only one yesterday, but we were busy dealing with the Chosen. I'm checking every building for trouble. If I find contraband, drugs or weapons, I confront the individuals in question. Past two days, I haven't had to confront anyone."
"The only people with weapons are your people, then?"
I nodded. "I've got sixty people working under me, and maybe a hundred more who are working for me in an indirect way, joining the community that's started on the cleanup projects. Filling, moving and placing sandbags to control and reroute the flooding, clearing the area Burnscar burned down, and setting up accommodations."
"Impressive," Coil said.
I nodded. "I feel like I'm cheating, though. My power's suited to this."
"It remains impressive. Let me explain just why I find this of interest, Undersiders, Travelers. The mayoral elections are in one week. Before this occurs, I would like to have this city firmly in my control. It will shift the tone and the aim of the election, which would be to my advantage. Our advantage."

Coil wants a dummy mayor so he can rule the City through he/she. Hmm, something that is not unusual in real life, most people more or less from shadows having dummies in the positions of power. I'm sure that Coil made in a way so his candidate will be elected mayor, or he'll have the other candidates suffer some "unfortunate accidents", withdraw from the electoral race because of "health issues", have their names affected by rumors or just die by the hands of "unknown assailants". I know how politics usually work, mister Coil, you're not going to fool me.

"So you're saying we have less than a week to wrap stuff up in our territory," Trickster said.

"Yes. I also have some other issues I would like you to address. Skitter, Genesis, I trust you're able to step away from your territories to give me a hand?"
Tattletale leaned forward over the table, looking at me. I glanced at her, then turned to Coil, "Yes."
"Sure," Genesis said.
"And Trickster, if you're idle while you wait for your teammates to come assist with Purity's group, I'm sure you can lend your assistance for one night?"
Trickster nodded.
"The mayor and several members of the city council will be traveling to Washington to discuss the state of Brockton Bay and the possibility of condemning the city. Skitter, Imp, Genesis, I would like you to visit him and ensure he argues towards our ends. Brockton Bay will stand, and it will recover."
I nodded slowly. "Sure. I think I can do that and still help Ballistic with Parian."
"I haven't asked for your help," Ballistic said.
"Coil's call," I responded.
"If Skitter feels she can spare the time, I would be glad to have the extra assurance the job will get done."
Ballistic folded his arms. Didn't look happy at that.
"That's the last point of discussion. I will provide anything you need to see your tasks to completion. If there's no questions, that will be all."
After a brief pause to check that nobody wanted to speak, we all stood from our seats. The Travelers headed out the door and turned a right to go back to where Noelle was sealed up. Tattletale led our group to the cells where Shatterbird and Victor were.
While we waited for Regent to go and bring Victfor out of his cell, Tattletale stepped close, so she was right next to Grue and me. She murmured, "One piece of good news, two pieces of bad news and one spot of catastrophic news. The good news is that Coil is impressed with you, Skitter."
"Okay," I said. "That's what we were hoping for, right?"
"But something tells me we've got a major snag. I'd say odds are pretty fucking good that he's on to us."
I felt my heart drop.
"How sure are you?" I asked.
"Not positive, but pretty damn sure. And I'd say there's a fifty-fifty chance one of ours informed him of our aims."
"A member of the Undersiders?" Grue asked.
"That, or he's got our places bugged. But I didn't get the sense that anyone who built the place or brought our stuff in knew about any electronic bugging.
Like I said, fifty-fifty chance."
I nodded. I glanced around, looking at Bitch, Imp, and the door Regent had disappeared through.
"Fuck," Tattletale swore under her breath. "I was trying to signal you to say no to Coil's request, but you weren't looking at the right moments and I couldn't exactly tip anyone off. I'm positive he's asking you to go on that errand with Genesis and Trickster because he's planning on eliminating you."
I felt Grue's hand squeeze my shoulder. He'd gone rigid, as if he was more spooked than I was.
"And of course, he knows I know. So this is a loyalty test, I'm betting. If you don't go, I flunk."

Sure, Coil will make the City better and people will be more happy with him pulling the strings of the future new mayor, this is what he'll do, I trust Coil as much as I trust the Devil himself.

So, Coil wants Skitter dead. He asked her to "convince" the actual mayor to change his mind about the possibility of condemning a City that is already condemned. Either Genesis or Trickster have the mission to kill Skitter during her "talk" with the mayor. I got it, isn't hard to understand what is in Coil's mind. I doubt Genesis will be able to kill Skitter, because of her usually peaceful nature (this is the impression she gave me- a peaceful girl who only want to help her teammates and nothing else) but Trickster...this is another story with him. He might kill her without hesitation and not because he is a cols blooded killer but because of his insane obsession with Noelle. He's the obsessed one with her, in comparison with other team members. I think that even Noelle would be creeped out if she'll know what Trickster is ready to do for her, probably including to kill. Or maybe she knows and she's ok with everything, as long as she'll be fixed.

Good night and sleep well, my friends.

blackarrow · Jul 30, 2018

Hello, lovable beings. Here comes another Chapter from this lovable story about superheroes, supervillains and in-between. Alright, last time, Tattletale warned Skitter that Coil is planning to kill Skitter during "CONVINCE THE MAYOR TO SAVE A CITY WITHOUT FUTURE" next mission, with the help of Trickster and Genesis. She also added that there's a mole inside their group, whose role is to inform Coil about every step they're taking. I'm thinking that the mole can't be one of the Undersiders (Brutus died during Leviathan Battle so I can't naturally accuse him for betrayal. Judas died too). So, if there's no Undersider morally corrupted enough to betray his/her group for Coil, then the mole must be an OUTSIDER. I'm thinking at Genesis. Maybe she can create very small projections, like mice or rats, and use them to spy on Undersiders, without them having no idea about her methods. Since she can create so many different projections and hear and see through them, this won't be an impossible feat for her. Besides, this is a pretty powerful power- to projects persons or creatures- and very versatile as well. Just look at what Genesis and Manton can do with their projections. Not a power to joke about. While I don't believe Genesis to be capable of murder, I don't see incapable of spying and betraying: after all, she's helping her own team and Travelers and Undersiders are allies only because they're working under the same man, not because they like each other. So, let's see if I'm right about Genesis Colony 15.5

We fell silent as Regent stepped out of the cell with Victor in tow.

"How's he handle?" Tattletale asked.
"Like a Mercedes with an invisible, sticky gear shift," Regent said.
"Care to explain?"
Victor stretched, and said, "Everything moves well, peak condition, but his power doesn't work so hot with him as a puppet. Can't tell what I'm borrowing or who I'm stealing from. I think I'd need his cooperation-"
Our captive sneered a little.
"-And I don't think he's willing to give it," Regent said.
"So the question is whether we want to take the time to try to convince him or take an indirect route," Grue said.
"Skitter's going to have to go in a few minutes, so let's see what you can do in the here and now?"
"Sure." Grue extended a hand and smothered Victor in darkness. A second later, he said, "I'm getting something. Anyone here speak another language? Sug puppene til horemammaen din?"
"No," Tattletale said. "You're getting that from Victor."
"Can't really use it. Now how do I change what I'm stealing?"
Tattletale shrugged. "It could be you're only picking up the surface stuff. Here, Regent, try some martial arts forms."
"Like what? I don't know this stuff."
"Victor does. You fight using your puppets' muscle memory, right? Try moving around, see what clicks and Grue will let you know if we're accomplishing anything."
There was a pause. Victor's hand briefly flashed out of the cloud of darkness as he shifted positions.
Grue rolled his shoulders some. "Yeah. There's a martial art in there somewhere. I'm picking something up, but it's slow."
Tattletale smiled. "Take everything you can. We'll see what sticks."
"It's kind of depressing," Grue said, settling onto a stool, "I always took some pride in honing my body, training, all that. This feels like cheating. Skipping the hard work."
"You said you never had the time or interest to dedicate yourself to investing in a martial art," Tattletale pointed out.
"I didn't. But that's not to say I wouldn't eventually. A few years down the line, when things are quieter, I can see myself doing that, earning belts and learning to fight."
"If you don't want to do this," Regent said, "I could do something else with my day."
Grue shook his head. "No. It's fine. Doesn't feel quite right, but I'll be able to do more to help you guys if I can fight better, if I'm more versatile. And I'm getting another language, again. Latin, I think. Get him doing the forms again?"
Regent sighed.
Tattletale frowned, "He's trying to drag you off course. Using his brain to bring other stuff to the surface. Listen, I'm going to see Skitter off, and then I'll talk to Coil, see if he has anyone who could drug Victor and mess with his mental functions without incapacitating him."
Drugs, like the ones Coil's using on Dinah, I thought. And this would give Tattletale and me a chance to have some words about the hit Coil had put on my head.
I had to wonder why? I was arguably doing the best among his underlings. Why was it so hard for him to simply let Dinah go, maybe take countermeasures to ensure she didn't betray him, and leave things alone?

I noticed that 'Sug puppene til horemammaen din' is in norwegian and I tried to translate it using google translate. Look what I got: 'Soak the tits to your mother-in-law'

rofl:

rofl: This is very rude of you, Victor. Let me guess: you got this "skill to be competent in another language" from a norwegian Merchant, because they're exactly the right kind of persons to talk like this. He also knows martial arts and latin, Grue can learn a thing or two from him, even if only temporary. Please, someone should make Skitter understand how important is Dinah for Coil. Even if he'll take over the City, he can't resist too much in his new position of power with too many heroes around who might find one day who is the man behind the Mayor Dummy so he needs Dinah to keep him on his position, in this way he'll never have the occasion to see how Birdcage looks like on the inside. Sometimes, your naivety is cute, Skitter, but in the moments like this one, its getting kind of annoying.

I wouldn't be any threat to him if he wasn't doing something morally reprehensible.

We left Regent and Grue to their task and stepped out of the wing with the cells, venturing onto the metal walkway that overlooked the lower level. I could see the Travelers at the vault door that kept Noelle contained, as well as the soldiers going about their business. Which struck me as odd, when I thought about it.
"What's with the soldiers?" I asked. "He's got, what, fifty or sixty here?"
"A little under that, but some are elsewhere."
"Why? I get that he was using them before, fighting Empire Eighty-Eight, but what's he using them for now? He didn't send them against the Endbringer, he didn't use them against the Nine. I get that he maybe fought off the Merchants and the Chosen when they were thriving, kept them from gaining too much steam, but it seems like a lot of money to spend on soldiers he doesn't intend to use."
"Well," Tattletale said, leaning on the railing. "One, keeping them employed here means they won't be hired by someone else."
"Right."
"And I think they factor into his plan. Either as a contingency or a greater aspect of it."
I nodded. I would have asked what that plan was, but I didn't want to say anything that would be too suspicious if overheard. Not while we were on Coil's turf, especially.
Tattletale didn't seem to have those same concerns. She leaned closer and murmured, "You've got two jobs back to back. That means you've got a few things to do. Number one, if we've got a mole in our group and our communications are compromised, that means we need a mole in Coil's group. Someone that can inform us about any of Coil's movements he's wanting to keep concealed from us."
"Ballistic?" I asked.
"Mm," she murmured a response. "Sound him out. Be careful about it, but try to get a sense of how tight he is with the rest of the Travelers. Like Cherish said, Trickster isn't tight with his team. See just how un-tight Ballistic is with his boss, and maybe we can make some inroads."
"Okay."
"That won't be easy, because I get the sense he doesn't like you, and he's upset you've stepped on his toes here."
I frowned.
"The second thing? About the possible murder attempt?" She asked.
"Just a little worried about that."
"He only decided it as recently as this morning, so anything he's set up is going to happen later."
"And you don't know how he's going to approach this, or what he'll do?"
She shook her head. "All I know is that Coil's intending for it to happen tonight, probably related to your job with the mayor."

Looks like Coil is getting prepared for a FREAKING WAR. What he's trying to do? Have his super-soldiers gunning down the other candidates to make sure that his candidate will win the elections without problems then install a military dictatorship? Hmm, this doesn't sounds like a thing Coil would do. Not that he's incapable to kill innocents/adversaries, he'd do that while smiling the largest smile possible, but this is not how he wants to take over the City, from what I noticed. He's more interested to be as subtle as possible, rulling everything through his Mayor Dummy and with Dinah's "help", not killing people left and right for shit and giggles -this is what Jack would do and despite both of them being equally vile villains, Coil and Jack have different methods to ruin to people's lives. Alright...Tattletale wants to recruit Ballistic as their ears and eyes in Coil's group?

Hmm, I won't trust any Traveler, not even Sundancer. But its good that Skitter will test Ballistic first before they'll recruit; if he's very dedicated to Travelers, then it would be useless and counterproductive to ask for his help. If he's not in great terms with his group, they still have a chance with him. I'm a bit worried that Ballistic might "read' Skitter's intentions and pretend to not like his teammates only to win her trust then betray her when the time will come but maybe he's not that smart and I'm just giving him too much credit.

"And you're positive on this?"

"It's one of those things where everything clicks into place perfectly if we acknowledge this one fact: he wants to kill you. For example, he has more reasons to send Imp than to send Trickster."
"How's that work?"
"I've already filled Imp in on this, but Coil's concerned about Grue's emotional state and what it means for our team as a whole."
I nodded. Which means he wants to remove Imp from the picture to see how Grue handles himself.
"So we're keeping that on the down-low. I'm not sure when we'll be able to do it, but I've talked with Imp and Regent, and sort of hinted on the subject with Bitch, and we might be looking at making you our team leader. At least for a little while."
I snapped my head around to look at her.
"It makes the most sense. You have the best grip on who's in play and how to use our abilities. You think tactically," she murmured.
"Why not you?" I asked. "You have seniority, you have more experience, you can apparently keep track of Imp, and you can identify our enemy's weaknesses."
"I'm not sure I have more experience," Tattletale admitted, "Or at least, my experience doesn't count for much. Robbing software companies and casinos doesn't really compare to going toe to toe with Mannequin."
"My other points stand."
"Just because we're putting you in charge doesn't mean I can't still handle that stuff. If you want to delegate to me at any point, that's fine. It's just a question of who we turn to when we need a spur of the moment decision."
"I'm not good at those. I'm only good when I can plan, consider everything that's at play."
"I don't think you give yourself credit. I've said it before, I'll say it again, you're good at improvising."
"With just me, maybe. Just my own abilities. I'm not sure I can do that if I'm also worrying about the four of you."
"We'll have to see in the field. Unless you're really going to argue Grue's going to be able to hold his own in a high pressure situation?"
I frowned behind my mask and shook my head.
"Of course, discussing this means nothing if you get killed. Don't."
"Easy as that? Don't get killed?"
"You're going into a tricky situation with the most amoral member and the most versatile member of their group. Keep an eye on everything and try to be unpredictable so they can't get you in a trap."

Sorry, Tattletale, but Skitter will SUCK as a team leader. A leader should be confident in their abilities and skills, not put themselves down all the fucking time. Exactly something that Skitter isn't and nobody else put themselves down more than Skitter is doing. Ah, sorry, Amy, forgot about you. Ok, nobody else put themselves down more than Skitter and Amy are doing. Tattletale will be THOUSANDS OF TIMES A BETTER LEADER than Skitter, better than any other Undersider.

For THOUSANDS OF REASONS.

Skitter is an excellent military tactician, but never a good leader until she'll change herself. Yes, she's pretty good with her territory, but its a big difference between leading civilians and non-powered minions and few soldiers and leading a team of powered people in very dangerous missions. I also noticed something, that Skitter might suffer from clinical depression. She have all the symptoms of a clinical depressed person: she doesn't trust herself, she's disappointed of her accomplishments, she's permanently sad and negative, she feels empty and hopeless, most of her actions are almost suicidal. I think she needs help, these people can't overcome their depression if they're not helped. Another characters confirmed as clinical depressed are Mark Dallon and Jack. Jack admitted that he's clinical depressed (+a psychopath) when he tried to recruit Amy. But this is a curiosity, because he never seems bored or depressed. Unless he doesn't feel depressed anymore as long as he's free to do as much evil as possible. If he'll stop doing evil things, he'll be suffocated by his own depression. So, by being clinical depressive+ hating humanity so much, Jack feels like he can't be happy for real unless he ruins everything around him. I think not even the best shrink in the world might be able to ever help Jack. Unless the shrink is an idealistic young woman, but Jack will make her go crazy, instead of having her curing him, then turn her into his "Harley Quinn".

I just had to figure out how to do that with a job this cut and dry.

"Ballistic's coming," Tattletale said. I looked and saw Ballistic ascending the staircase at the far end of the walkway. It would take him a minute or three to join us.
"Any final tips before I'm left with him?"
"He's angry. Coil's roped in the Travelers by promising to help them with Noelle, but there's two snags in that which we may be able to use. For one thing, I don't know if Coil seriously intends to offer any fix he does find. For another, Ballistic cares less about that than anyone else. Or maybe it would be better to say he almost doesn't want to help with that because Trickster wants it so badly."
"That sounds like it's less about team friction and more about sheer enmity."
"I think they were really good friends once and now they're distant."
Well, it wasn't like I wasn't unfamiliar with that idea.
"And," she said, her voice low, "I can tell you the Noelle thing isn't the only crisis they're working on handling. The focus on Noelle is something of a sore point with Ballistic."
"Vague. And I can't really say anything about that without admitting the info came from you."
"Yeah," she said. Then she straightened, turning toward Ballistic.
"That huddle looked like a conspiracy at work," he commented. He looked like he'd based his costume off of the capes of a different era, with only some concessions made to fitting in with his team's color scheme; a costume in black with red patterns on the fabric, heavy on the armor panels and padding, making a big guy look even bigger. His mask was square, with holes only for the eyes. Belts and pouches were strapped across his entire body.
"Conspiracy? Us?" Tattletale grinned.
"You were whispering about something."
"Boys," she said, winking.
"Hm," he didn't look impressed.
"No, we really were talking about boys. About Grue, specifically, and maybe replacing him as leader."
"Hey," I said, before I'd processed why she was saying that. She wanted to earn some measure of trust by volunteering a secret.
She shrugged. "They're going to find out eventually. We'll have to trust Ballistic to not go running to Coil to tell on us."
He folded his arms. "Putting me in a compromising spot?"
"Sure. You can handle it," she told him. She gave me a pat on the shoulder, "I'm going to see about those drugs for Victor. Good luck to you two."
"Tell me," Ballistic said, as Tattletale strolled off, "Do you ever get past that point where you feel painfully uncomfortable around her?"
"Yeah," I said. "You get over that with time."
I didn't add that the discomfort he was describing was largely linked to the number of secrets one was trying to keep from her. It almost went without saying.
"You're still insisting on coming along?" he asked. "You know I can handle this on my own."
"I don't doubt that. But I'm kind of wanting to see this place."
"Why?"
"I'm running my own territory. Maybe there are ideas I can use. And I want to see how people are coping in other districts."
"I'd ask 'why' again, but I'm not sure I'd get it."
"If this city doesn't get condemned, you're going to have people moving into your district. Even after the city's infrastructure is up and running again, those people are going to put pressure on you for certain things."

I fully agree with Skitter going with Ballistic in Dolltown. Who knows, maybe Ballistic might hurt Parian and Skitter might do something to stop him or save our lovable rogue's life. Now I wonder where the hell Flechette is. I mean, the girl she likes might be blind now, her people were Bonesawed, her territory is in ruins and she's traumatized because her family was killed. Flechette should be there, to emotionally support her and to protect her against any trespasser who might try to hurt her. I know that she's a heroine and is pretty busy right now but still...she can't let the GIRL SHE LIKES completely alone, barely surviving. Let's hope that Flechette will be there and kick Ballistic's ass.

"See, you're approaching this like a medieval lord, managing her serfs and servants and I see this more as being a watchdog."

I gestured toward the exit, and he sighed. We began making our way out of the base.
"Do you really want to limit yourself to being a watchdog?"
"When I'm making this much cash? When even the top guys in this town would run scared from me? Sure." He held the door open for me.
"And that's all it comes down to? Cash and being feared?"
"I'm a living gun and my surroundings are nothing but piles of ammunition. What do you expect? You don't think you're scary?"
"I think you can have money and power, you can be fearsome where necessary, but you can still make a difference at the same time."
"Doesn't seem worth it, working your ass off to make some people a little happier and more comfortable before the world ends."
"You're one of the people that's fixated on that, huh?"
"The world's gonna end. How can you shrug that off?"
"It might not."
"Right," he said, clearly humoring me.
This wasn't working. Tattletale had said Ballistic was angry, but I'd taken that to be the same sort of anger that Bitch harbored. Whatever was going on with Noelle and the group dynamics that had Sundancer so unhappy, it had made Ballistic angry at the world, angry at circumstance. A different sort of anger, really: he didn't really care about anything or anyone.
How was I supposed to get through to him if that was the case?
I decided to call him on it.
"Okay, so your only priorities are money and power? Then why are you so annoyed that I'm coming along? What does it matter?"
"It's my business, my territory, and I'm capable of handling her on my own. It's insulting that Coil thinks I'd need any help, and it's rude that you'd volunteer yourself without checking with me first."
"Okay," I said. "Hypothetically, just going by what you were saying earlier, why should I give a damn? The world's going to end in a few years anyways. What does it matter if I get on your bad side?"
"That's different," he said, sounding annoyed.
"Why? Because it's you that's getting shortchanged?"
"Because we're basically coworkers. If we're going to have to fight alongside one another, we can't be worried about this sort of thing."
"Okay, first of all? I have a closer working relationship with the people in my territory than I do with any of the Travelers. If and when you get more people in your territory, you might find that's the same with you, too. So I'm not sure I buy that coworker thing."
"You're talking apples and oranges. Capes and non-capes."
"Fine." He'd left an opening for me to target. "Then I'll just point to your other 'coworkers'. The other Travelers. There's obvious friction. There's resentment. Cherish said as much. So I don't think you buy the coworker thing either."
"Again, that's different."
"You say that a lot. Maybe this principle you're living by isn't that strong if it can't hold up to the most basic arguments. Unless you care to explain whythat's different?"
"You're grilling me for info on my team."
"I'm curious what's going on there, yeah. But I'm also trying to figure you out. As you said, we're coworkers."
"Weren't you just debating the coworker thing?"
"Decide if you really believe it, let me know, and I'll change my argument accordingly," I said.
He sighed.
"I'm not trying to get on your bad side," I said. "Really. But I've dealt with some interesting personalities like Bitch, Regent and Imp for a little while now, and I know I won't be able to communicate with you until I understand where you're coming from. So I'm willing to go the extra mile to figure you outnow so I can understand you in the future…"
I trailed off, but I kept one eye on him to see if there was any hint that he knew about Coil's plans to terminate my future. There was nothing. I couldn't see his face, but nothing had changed in his posture, his stride or overall body language.
"You're not going to stop digging and get off my case here, huh?" He asked.
I was mentally categorizing him as very similar to Bitch in many respects. He was smarter, though, and the weapons he wielded in a discussion were less about threatening imminent harm than, what? Setting himself further apart from me? Breaking ties, categorizing me as an enemy in his head and making dealing with him harder in the future?
It would explain why there was a schism between him and the other members of his group.
"If you ask me to? I'll back off. But…" I made the call on the spur of the moment, as I might with Bitch if I were positive she wasn't about to hit me. "I think you and I would both agree that you'd be admitting I'm right if you did."
"That's dirty."
"Sure."
"So what do you want to know, then? Shall I divulge my deepest, darkest secrets?"
"I'll settle for knowing why you're all so angry at Trickster, why you specifically are angry at him."

Ballistic doesn't like his boss. He doesn't like his team in general, but most of all he doesn't like Trickster. Why? What if...what if Ballistic likes Noelle as well? What if he wanted to be her boyfriend but Trickster was faster than him and won her heart? What if he's angry at Trickster because Trickster hurt the girl he likes? This is more like matters of heart than anything else.

When it comes to matters of heart I'm the best one to talk about.

It would be funny if both Trickster and Ballistic are fighting over Noelle's heart, but she secretly is in love with Sundancer. :lol

"Nope. Can't say."

"Can't or won't?"
"Won't. We made a deal, and that deal means we've kept some stuff from Coil, even. I'm not about to tell you."
"I don't need to know specifics."
"You don't need to know the general details, either."
"Not really. But maybe you need to tell me? One of your teammates said they were awfully lonely, and they're closer with the rest of the team than you are. Maybe you're lonely too, nobody to vent to?"
"I'm a guy. We don't do the whole emotional sharing thing. You trying to channel Tattletale here? Why are you so intent on getting the details, here? This isn't just curiosity or wanting to know your coworkers."
Because so much hinges on my ability to get you on board against Coil.
I didn't have a good response, so I fell silent. We continued walking down the streets towards the crater-lake, our footsteps sloshing in the shallow water.
"He took everything from us," Ballistic said, breaking the silence.
"Trickster?"
"Trickster. When everything started falling apart, he stepped up to make the calls. Bad ones. And now the group is all we have left. No friends, no family, no home to go back to, no goals beyond fixing Trickster's fuckups."
I was thinking of how it had come out that Sundancer was reluctant to use her powers because of the damage she'd done in the past. Civilian deaths? Had they included their own families? Had Noelle been included in that?
It might explain why they were so gun-shy about using their powers to their fullest potential and why they'd been so insistent on keeping Noelle locked up when we were up against the Nine.
He went on, "The others might hate Trickster but they still respect him. Or they don't respect him but they don't hate him either. Probably more the former than the latter. But I don't have any love for the guy, I don't have any respect for him either, and I seem to be alone in that."
"So where do you go from there?"
"Now we're back to square one. I already explained. Money, being feared, respect and living in comfort as a badass watchdog."
"All that stuff about hating him, blaming him for ruining your life, and you don't want any revenge on him?" I asked, as casually as I could manage.
"No. I'm with the group for one reason. I stick with shit. Not going to turn on the guy. I agreed to this thing with Coil because I thought it'd be a way to get back some of what we've lost, maybe. But all I see is my teammates getting all starry-eyed with hope while Coil feeds us empty promises. Saying Tattletale will find an answer, or he'll make a request to some major scientists in parahuman study. And of course there's no answers."
"There could be."
"Nah. Why would he give us what we want if it means losing our services? But I don't really care anymore. I made a deal with Coil and I'll stick that through until I have a good reason not to. Way I figure it, fuck my team, fuck Coil, but it's not worth confronting anyone over if it means I'm wasting the remaining two years of my life trying to get another gig this cushy."
"That seems kind of claustrophobic, setting those restrictions on yourself, letting things with your team drop by the wayside. Being all alone?"
"Won't be alone. Figure I've got enough cash and respect I can get groupies. That'll do for the next couple of years. Unless you're going to argue there's some point to a committed, long term relationship when there's no long term?"
I sighed. There was no point in continuing this. I could tell that Ballistic wasn't going to budge, and I didn't have a 'good reason' to convince him to join us.
We crossed several city blocks in silence. When we'd reached the lake Leviathan had created downtown, we began to walk around to the north end to Dolltown.

So, Ballistic blames Trickster because he made a mistake that left Noelle crippled by her own power and they had to leave their homes and families while searching for a cure for her. My first guess is that they fought against Simurgh of Behemoth, one of these Endbringers injured Noelle, Trickster found a Cauldron vial, he gave it to her to save her life, but since some of Cauldron vials really suck, turning people into monsters, Noelle can't have control over her powers. Then Trickster convinced their friends to go with him and Noelle from city to city, looking after people who can fix Noelle. They found Coil who promised them his help as long as they're working for him. I'm very curious to see if I guessed at least half of what happened for real (please, don't tell me, ok? I want to be pleasant or unpleasant surprised when the time will come). Ballistic DOESN'T TRUST Coil (I appreciate Ballistic for being so realistic; he might be a jerk, but he's not stupid, neither naive like everyone else) and he only continues to work for Coil for money. Nothing else. He's honest, cynical, but most of all, realistic. I don't like him but I hope that he'll wake Skitter up from her sleep induced by blind naivety involving Coil and his true intentions.

"So how are we doing this? Attack strategy?" Ballistic asked.

"Any chance you'll let me make the first move?"
"And take all the credit?" His voice hardened.
"I'll let you take half the credit if I'm successful. You can take all the credit if I fail."
"Nope."
"What?"
"I get what you're doing. You want to make us Travelers look bad. Get yourself a bigger slice of the pie somewhere down the road. More respect, more power, and you're doing that by wedging yourself into everything, getting hyperinvolved. Gotta be in first place."
"That's crazy."
"Right. Then explain why you're going overboard with your territory."
"I'm getting the job done, taking care of my people."
"Nah. It's more than that. There's something driving you to work that hard. You're looking to supplant us."
He'd stopped walking. I paused and turned to face him.
He chuckled lightly, "I don't blame you for it. I mean, it's pretty scummy, when we're supposed to be working together, but I get that you want to be on top.""We are working together."
"I may be taller and in better shape than average, but I'm not dumb. You think I didn't catch the wedge you were trying to drive into our team? Sounding me out for any hard feelings I might have for the others?"
Shit. This sort of thing was Tattletale's field, not mine. Now it was going south fast, and I could imagine how this would explode in my face.
I cleared my throat a little and clarified, "I was sounding you out because it was clear you did have hard feelings for the other members of your team, and I wanted to give you a chance to talk about it."
"Ah, so the creepy bug girl is really a softie in the end," his voice was laced with sarcasm. "No ulterior motives at all."
"Whatever," I said. "Nevermind."
"So fuck you," he said. "No, I'm not giving you first dibs on this doll woman. Second I see her, I'm taking her out of action and making it a hundred percent clear it was all my doing. You'll get what you wanted, which you said was to see the territory, and I get what I want, which is to finish up my territory so I can kick back."
This wasn't how I wanted things to go on any level. I could have groaned in frustration. Instead, I sent out a command to my bugs and took a deep breath.
"Okay," I told him.
"Yeah?"
"But I think I'll stay out of the line of fire. I get the impression I offended you, so maybe we give each other some breathing room? Avoid getting shot?"
"I wouldn't jeopardize the setup I've got with Coil for that. But maybe it's best you do stay out of the way."
I nodded and turned to go.
Okay, so no mole inside the Travelers.
I could still hope to achieve something here.
Using my bugs, I tracked Parian's movements within Dolltown. She was moving quickly, joined by a small collection of people. Many were shrouded in cloth, leaving me to guess if they were real people or something new she'd done with her creations.
I drew out directions with my bugs, guiding her away from Ballistic. She didn't listen at first, but that changed when Ballistic fired off his first attack, creating a deafening crash. From the sound of it, he'd done something to send a car flying into a building. A moment later, he did it again. I walked faster. I could call Atlas to me, but I didn't want to get spotted in the air.
Dolltown was ugly. It had been hit hard by the Nine and the fight between them and Hookwolf's army. There were scars on the buildings where Hookwolf had struck, holes and marks in the wall where Purity had fired her beams. Menja had done some damage here and there, with some handprints marking various pieces of architecture where her gauntlets had bit into stone and metal.
I pushed open a doorway and stepped into a ruined building. Parian faced me. Her mask had a crack in it, and there was blood staining her worn frock. She was surrounded by a half-dozen of her remaining people, each of whom wore masks and costumes. A life-size doll, a man who was wrapped in fabric to the point that he looked something like a mummy, a little girl in a skintight suit of flannel with holes cut out for the eyes, one blue and one green.
Did Parian have capes working for her? Or-
No.
They were the people Bonesaw had done surgery on. The ones she'd altered to look like members of the Nine. They were covering the faces and bodies Bonesaw had given them.
"What do you want?" Parian asked.
"To negotiate," I said.
"Your buddy isn't too interested in negotiating, by the sounds of it," she said. She flinched as another crash sounded somewhere nearby.
"I took a gamble here, warning you about him. He wanted to hurt you, make you into an example. I don't operate that way."
"Don't think I can trust you on that."
"You'll have to. Because I've gone around Ballistic's back, I'm kind of counting on you hearing me out, because if I fail here, it's going to fuck up things with this alliance my team has with the Travelers." And with Coil.
She glanced around. I could sense someone moving nearby. One of her people, sneaking up behind me. No gun, a light search with my bugs told me, and more of the same cloth costume the other Dolltown residents were wearing. I ignored my potential assailant. I could handle an attack from a knife. I'd just need to be on guard in case they aimed to club me over the head.
"I know about the person that's circling around to ambush me," I said. "Can we just talk, without someone trying to hurt me?"
"What are you wanting to talk about, then?"
"You got dealt a raw hand. The Nine targeted you, like they targeted some people I care about. People I love. That's not fair. So I was thinking, I've got a lot of money. I have access to resources. I know it's not much, it's not really enough, but maybe we could get doctors for your friends and family. Fix what's been done to them."
"And what would you want in exchange?"
"Join my team," I said. "I-"
"No."
"Listen," I hissed the word, "It's the best way to guarantee safety for everyone here. It gets Ballistic off your back. Even if you avoid him today, he's going to level half of Dolltown, and he'll come back tomorrow to level the other half. Everything else would stay the same, you'd have the same freedoms, only we'd supply you with everything you need. Not just rice and fresh water, butgood food. Medical care. Proper shelter. All you need to offer is lip service and we can fix so many of the things that have gone wrong here."
The person behind me stepped closer. I turned to keep an eye on her and she lunged in that same instant.
Three spikes of metal were sticking out from between her fingers, like improvised brass knuckles. When she punched them into my shoulder, they went straight through my costume, piercing through the bone as though they were hot knives and I were nothing but soft butter. She swept my feet from under me and pushed me to the ground.
"The lady said no," Flechette told me, one hand holding me down, the other hand raised to strike me again.

FLECHETTE IS THERE, PROTECTING HER GIRLFRIEND. Nothing else matters for me anymore. Yes, she hurts Skitter, but anyone would have done the same while in her place, when two villains attacked his girlfriend's territory and one of them tried to recruit her, despite her saying clearly no. Flechette is motivated to attack Skitter, especially since Ballistic is giving into his car destroying fetish in the background without any care about who he might hurts. I'd have reacted the same while in Flechette's place (well, maybe I won't shoot directly, but I'd give Skitter a warning of shooting her if she doesn't let Parian alone). I know Skitter have good intentions, but Flechette doesn't know this and she's afraid that Parian might be in danger. Ballistic doesn't help either. Well, Skitter will not die because this is Flechette, a HEROINE, not Shadow Stalker, and anyway she's going to feel that wound like just a big scratch, right?
YES, FLECHETTE PROTECTS HER GIRLFRIEND AND KICKS SOME SERIOUS ASS. Sorry, Skitter, but I'm just way too happy now to feel sorry for your bad luck. You'll be ok, anyway. Ok, I'm sorry for your wound "runs to hug Flechette and Parian"

Good night and sleep well, my friends.

rafuki22 · Jul 30, 2018

blackarrow said:
Hello, lovable beings. Here comes another Chapter from this lovable story about superheroes, supervillains and in-between. Alright, last time, Tattletale warned Skitter that Coil is planning to kill Skitter during "CONVINCE THE MAYOR TO SAVE A CITY WITHOUT FUTURE" next mission, with the help of Trickster and Genesis. She also added that there's a mole inside their group, whose role is to inform Coil about every step they're taking. I'm thinking that the mole can't be one of the Undersiders (Brutus died during Leviathan Battle so I can't naturally accuse him for betrayal. Judas died too). So, if there's no Undersider morally corrupted enough to betray his/her group for Coil, then the mole must be an OUTSIDER. I'm thinking at Genesis. Maybe she can create very small projections, like mice or rats, and use them to spy on Undersiders, without them having no idea about her methods. Since she can create so many different projections and hear and see through them, this won't be an impossible feat for her. Besides, this is a pretty powerful power- to projects persons or creatures- and very versatile as well. Just look at what Genesis and Manton can do with their projections. Not a power to joke about. While I don't believe Genesis to be capable of murder, I don't see incapable of spying and betraying: after all, she's helping her own team and Travelers and Undersiders are allies only because they're working under the same man, not because they like each other. So, let's see if I'm right about Genesis Colony 15.5

I noticed that 'Sug puppene til horemammaen din' is in norwegian and I tried to translate it using google translate. Look what I got: 'Soak the tits to your mother-in-law' rofl:rofl:rofl: This is very rude of you, Victor. Let me guess: you got this "skill to be competent in another language" from a norwegian Merchant, because they're exactly the right kind of persons to talk like this. He also knows martial arts and latin, Grue can learn a thing or two from him, even if only temporary. Please, someone should make Skitter understand how important is Dinah for Coil. Even if he'll take over the City, he can't resist too much in his new position of power with too many heroes around who might find one day who is the man behind the Mayor Dummy so he needs Dinah to keep him on his position, in this way he'll never have the occasion to see how Birdcage looks like on the inside. Sometimes, your naivety is cute, Skitter, but in the moments like this one, its getting kind of annoying.

Looks like Coil is getting prepared for a FREAKING WAR. What he's trying to do? Have his super-soldiers gunning down the other candidates to make sure that his candidate will win the elections without problems then install a military dictatorship? Hmm, this doesn't sounds like a thing Coil would do. Not that he's incapable to kill innocents/adversaries, he'd do that while smiling the largest smile possible, but this is not how he wants to take over the City, from what I noticed. He's more interested to be as subtle as possible, rulling everything through his Mayor Dummy and with Dinah's "help", not killing people left and right for shit and giggles -this is what Jack would do and despite both of them being equally vile villains, Coil and Jack have different methods to ruin to people's lives. Alright...Tattletale wants to recruit Ballistic as their ears and eyes in Coil's group? Hmm, I won't trust any Traveler, not even Sundancer. But its good that Skitter will test Ballistic first before they'll recruit; if he's very dedicated to Travelers, then it would be useless and counterproductive to ask for his help. If he's not in great terms with his group, they still have a chance with him. I'm a bit worried that Ballistic might "read' Skitter's intentions and pretend to not like his teammates only to win her trust then betray her when the time will come but maybe he's not that smart and I'm just giving him too much credit.

Sorry, Tattletale, but Skitter will SUCK as a team leader. A leader should be confident in their abilities and skills, not put themselves down all the fucking time. Exactly something that Skitter isn't and nobody else put themselves down more than Skitter is doing. Ah, sorry, Amy, forgot about you. Ok, nobody else put themselves down more than Skitter and Amy are doing. Tattletale will be THOUSANDS OF TIMES A BETTER LEADER than Skitter, better than any other Undersider. For THOUSANDS OF REASONS. Skitter is an excellent military tactician, but never a good leader until she'll change herself. Yes, she's pretty good with her territory, but its a big difference between leading civilians and non-powered minions and few soldiers and leading a team of powered people in very dangerous missions. I also noticed something, that Skitter might suffer from clinical depression. She have all the symptoms of a clinical depressed person: she doesn't trust herself, she's disappointed of her accomplishments, she's permanently sad and negative, she feels empty and hopeless, most of her actions are almost suicidal. I think she needs help, these people can't overcome their depression if they're not helped. Another characters confirmed as clinical depressed are Mark Dallon and Jack. Jack admitted that he's clinical depressed (+a psychopath) when he tried to recruit Amy. But this is a curiosity, because he never seems bored or depressed. Unless he doesn't feel depressed anymore as long as he's free to do as much evil as possible. If he'll stop doing evil things, he'll be suffocated by his own depression. So, by being clinical depressive+ hating humanity so much, Jack feels like he can't be happy for real unless he ruins everything around him. I think not even the best shrink in the world might be able to ever help Jack. Unless the shrink is an idealistic young woman, but Jack will make her go crazy, instead of having her curing him, then turn her into his "Harley Quinn".

I fully agree with Skitter going with Ballistic in Dolltown. Who knows, maybe Ballistic might hurt Parian and Skitter might do something to stop him or save our lovable rogue's life. Now I wonder where the hell Flechette is. I mean, the girl she likes might be blind now, her people were Bonesawed, her territory is in ruins and she's traumatized because her family was killed. Flechette should be there, to emotionally support her and to protect her against any trespasser who might try to hurt her. I know that she's a heroine and is pretty busy right now but still...she can't let the GIRL SHE LIKES completely alone, barely surviving. Let's hope that Flechette will be there and kick Ballistic's ass.

Ballistic doesn't like his boss. He doesn't like his team in general, but most of all he doesn't like Trickster. Why? What if...what if Ballistic likes Noelle as well? What if he wanted to be her boyfriend but Trickster was faster than him and won her heart? What if he's angry at Trickster because Trickster hurt the girl he likes? This is more like matters of heart than anything else. When it comes to matters of heart I'm the best one to talk about. It would be funny if both Trickster and Ballistic are fighting over Noelle's heart, but she secretly is in love with Sundancer. :lol

So, Ballistic blames Trickster because he made a mistake that left Noelle crippled by her own power and they had to leave their homes and families while searching for a cure for her. My first guess is that they fought against Simurgh of Behemoth, one of these Endbringers injured Noelle, Trickster found a Cauldron vial, he gave it to her to save her life, but since some of Cauldron vials really suck, turning people into monsters, Noelle can't have control over her powers. Then Trickster convinced their friends to go with him and Noelle from city to city, looking after people who can fix Noelle. They found Coil who promised them his help as long as they're working for him. I'm very curious to see if I guessed at least half of what happened for real (please, don't tell me, ok? I want to be pleasant or unpleasant surprised when the time will come). Ballistic DOESN'T TRUST Coil (I appreciate Ballistic for being so realistic; he might be a jerk, but he's not stupid, neither naive like everyone else) and he only continues to work for Coil for money. Nothing else. He's honest, cynical, but most of all, realistic. I don't like him but I hope that he'll wake Skitter up from her sleep induced by blind naivety involving Coil and his true intentions.

FLECHETTE IS THERE, PROTECTING HER GIRLFRIEND. Nothing else matters for me anymore. Yes, she hurts Skitter, but anyone would have done the same while in her place, when two villains attacked his girlfriend's territory and one of them tried to recruit her, despite her saying clearly no. Flechette is motivated to attack Skitter, especially since Ballistic is giving into his car destroying fetish in the background without any care about who he might hurts. I'd have reacted the same while in Flechette's place (well, maybe I won't shoot directly, but I'd give Skitter a warning of shooting her if she doesn't let Parian alone). I know Skitter have good intentions, but Flechette doesn't know this and she's afraid that Parian might be in danger. Ballistic doesn't help either. Well, Skitter will not die because this is Flechette, a HEROINE, not Shadow Stalker, and anyway she's going to feel that wound like just a big scratch, right?
YES, FLECHETTE PROTECTS HER GIRLFRIEND AND KICKS SOME SERIOUS ASS. Sorry, Skitter, but I'm just way too happy now to feel sorry for your bad luck. You'll be ok, anyway. Ok, I'm sorry for your wound "runs to hug Flechette and Parian"

Good night and sleep well, my friends.

I would not like Lisa to be my leader, I would prefer someone like miss militia, grue, fautline or legend, friendly, but firm, Lisa would have to contain her pride to be a good leader.
Lisa would be more a strategist.
Really excited with Flechette and Parian eh?
Sorry for not having commented on the previous chapter, but I had nothing to say.

blackarrow · Jul 31, 2018

rafuki22 said:
I would not like Lisa to be my leader, I would prefer someone like miss militia, grue, fautline or legend, friendly, but firm, Lisa would have to contain her pride to be a good leader.
Lisa would be more a strategist.
Really excited with Flechette and Parian eh?
Sorry for not having commented on the previous chapter, but I had nothing to say.

I'm referring at Undersiders, Miss Militia and Legend can't be Undersiders' leaders because they're heroes and they have their own teams. Faultline have her hands full with her own team. Grue is currently traumatized (its necessary to be replaced until he'll be better). So, Lisa is the best option for Undersiders. We don't want Rachel to become the leader, right?

lol
Yep, I like Flechette and Parian. I like more Parian, I have to admit, but I appreciate a lot how protective Flechette is with her. They make a good couple.

Its ok, you don't have to apologize for anything.

blackarrow · Jul 31, 2018

Hello, people who are more or less fans of Voodo Dolls (this is how I'm going to call Flechette and Parian ship, Voodoo Dolls, because one of them create and controls dolls and another one uses needles-darts to stab people she doesn't like too much. I think is a pretty ok name for this ship, even if its a bit morbid

). So, I'm calling the following ships like this: Sabah/Lily as Voodoo Dolls, Colin/Dragon as Flesh and Wires and Brian/Taylor as Fireflies. Pretty uninspired, eh?

) Ok, let's see what Skitter is going to tell to a very angry (and worried for her girlfriend) Flechette to make her realize that she doesn't want to hurt Parian, unlike that crazy man in the background who plays ping-pong by himself with any car that is unfortunate enough to appear in his way (no, seriously, Ballistic, but what have the cars ever did to you to be so uncontrollable pissed on them with every fucking occasion? This is the second mystery involving Travelers that I want to know about right after the one with Noelle). Let's see if Flechette will understand Skitter's good intentions and will not hurt her further. Not that being hurt actually bothers Skitter anymore, but it kind of bothers me Colony 15.6

Not my brightest move, I had to admit. The problem with acting like I was tough enough to shrug off an attack from a knife wielder was that the illusion failed pretty damn hard when I actually got stabbed.

I'd been relying too much on my costume.
"If I see a single bug, I'll be forced to use this," Flechette said, angling the spike of metal in her hand so I could see it better.
"Isn't that going too far?" Parian asked, her voice small.
"No," Flechette said. Her hand was still poised to strike the second I moved.
"She was just talking."
"She just talked to Panacea, if you remember. And I told you before, the last time Glory Girl was seen was in her company. I've explained what happened after that."
"You think she did it?"
Did what?
"I think the thinker-seven on her team might have. Running theory is that Tattletale has a clairvoyance that lets her see weak points. Finds the points to attack in people, security systems, patrol routes, reverse-engineers the results to get general information."
Okay, she'd hit the key points, but sort of got it backwards.
"That was Jack," I said. "Jack was the one who got to Amy."
"Occam's razor. Most likely answer is often the correct one. Or something like that," Flechette said, "Is it going to be Jack, who has powers we already know? Or is it going to be Tattletale, who has set down more than enough precedent for that kind of behavior and a still-unknown power? It fits what your group's trying to do, taking over the city for yourselves. And I should point out that records do seem to point to people being left devastated or ruined wherever you go. Panacea, Armsmaster, the Slaughterhouse Nine-"
"You're complaining about us taking out the Nine? And that wasn't all us. It wasn't even mostly us. That was everything going to hell and people with issues getting pushed past their limits. We were only involved because we've tried to help every step of the way."
"You think she was going to do to me what she did to Glory Girl and Panacea?" Parian asked.
"I'd say the possibility exists," Flechette said. "And that's reason enough to be very careful."
Damn this. "I'm not trying to fucking corrupt or psychologically traumatize Parian. Or anyone else! Yes, we're trying to take over the city. Yes, we're currently working on eliminating the competition-"
"Mm," Flechette murmured, her expression hard.
"But that's not why I'm here, not exactly. It serves our goals just as well if I recruit Parian. It's one person out of the way, and it gives us a way to help people who need it."
"So you say."
"Fuck, I hate it when people do that. 'Everything you say is a lie, including any protests or arguments over the fact that you're a liar.'"
There was a crash, further away than the last. Ballistic had headed in a different direction. For the moment, at least, we were out of harm's way.

It looks like Flechette is more ruthless now than she was during her Interlude, when she took great care to not hurt those thugs/rapists too much, unlike Shadow Stalker. Here, she doesn't have any qualms to threaten and hurt Skitter, no matter what Skitter is trying to tell her. CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT

. Which is good in Flechette's case. I support her being so ruthless, she acts exactly how I'd like to see a hero acting. Not giving any chance to the villain to get their upper hand over her or people she's protecting. But, right now, her motivation for being so ruthless is not the correct one. She honestly believes that Skitter was the one who broke Amy, not Bonesaw and Jack. Maybe she doesn't know how the events happened and I'll not blame her for this lack of knowledge. I'd rather blame Amy- sorry, Amy, but you should have told to everyone who's holding the biggest responsibility of your break. But you preferred to remain silent about the whole thing. And now heroes believe that Skitter and Tattletale must bear full responsibility for this double tragedy. I'm not very happy with your oath of omerta, Amy. Alright, Flechette, better listen to Skitter about what she's going to tell you about how the things happened for real. I understand you don't trust her, I won't trust her either while in your place but at least I'd be willing to listen first before deciding to murder what to do with her. I'm always willing to listen people, even people I don't trust. Communication is very important in human interactions.

"You're sort of well-known in the community for being deceptive and underhanded."

"Because of what Armsmaster said at the hospital?"
"In part."
"Is nobody paying attention to the fact that he was seriously bent in the head? To the point that the Slaughterhouse Nine thought he was a good candidate for their group?"
"Mannequin targeted Armsmaster to mess with him. It's his M.O.. He goes out of his way to attack and ruin tinkers and other individuals who could do something for society."
"I love how the so-called 'good' guys get to revise events to make stuff more convenient for them."
"It's a perk. People tend to trust your version of events when you're doing what's right," Flechette said. The spike she gripped between two fingers tapped against my throat, but didn't pierce the fabric. She wasn't using her power or she could have killed me.
"You're implying that you guys are doing what's 'right' that much more often than we are."
"That should be obvious."
"And you really believe that?"
"Have to."
"Do you know why Armsmaster was arrested?"
"He wasn't."
"Unofficially arrested, then. Do you know why he was cooped up in the local PRT headquarters, with no official title or role?"
"He was in therapy for his injury. He lost an arm."
"I know. I was there when Leviathan tore it out of the socket. I applied pressure to the wound to try to stop the blood loss. But that's not why they locked him up. They could have given him an administrative position if it was just an injury, and they didn't."
"Maybe they did. It's not like either of us were there when the decisions were made."
"With no job title? They didn't list one for him, and with the state of the city, they could have leveraged his reputation alone to boost morale, just by saying Armsmaster was in charge of the local task-forces."
"There's emotional stress with permanent injuries, too."
"Plenty of people under just as much stress, if not more, after the Endbringer hit. But I'll admit your perspective's better than mine," I said, looking up at her. "You joined the Wards just in time to see the aftermath of Gallant and Aegis dying. How did they handle that? If the PRT was that accommodating with Armsmaster, I'm sure they arranged for therapy and time off for all the Wards."
"Yes to therapy," she said. "No to the time off. Too much to take care of."
"Oh?" I asked. I hadn't honestly expected them to enforce and allow for therapy. It threw me off my stride.

"shakes her head" Flechette knows so very few details about everything. I feel pity for her. A lot of pity, I must add. I don't judge her not even a single bit for how she threats Skitter. Its clearly that she doesn't want to kill Skitter, she only is confused and disoriented about what she already knows and what Skitter is telling her. I bet she doesn't even know about the fact that Armsmaster broke the truce, killing few villains and getting so close to kill heroes too during Leviathan Battle. Of course she doesn't know, only the most important people in Protectorate know about what Armsmaster did. The more I read about Flechette, the more pity I feel for her. Btw, I noticed that Parian is not blind. She can see. Maybe Bonesaw's acid wasn't enough to burn her eyes or destroy her sight. This is very good, too bad that her people weren't so lucky.

"Why are you so surprised? And where is this coming from? Tattletale feed you this information?"

"Only some of the general details, like what Armsmaster was up to. The bit about the PRT dropping the ball in taking care of you guys was mainly drawn from past experience."
"But they didn't."
"Flechette," Parian spoke up, "Weren't you saying it was Weld who pushed for the therapy?"
Flechette shot her a look, as if she were thinking, Whose side are you on?
"Wards taking care of Wards," I said. "Okay, I think my argument stands. No reason to suggest that Armsmaster was being coddled to that degree for any emotional or mental distress he went through."
"What are you getting at?"
"I'm saying he was arrested. Off the books. And there aren't really any reasonable explanations to the contrary. People are still taking his word on events, taking his word on me, but he was as fucked up as any of us."
"Given the choice, I'm going to take his word over yours, sorry."
"That's what I'm saying is screwed up!" I hissed the last two words. "Why? Because of the label he chose to identify by? He calls himself a hero and he gets more credit?"
"Because he put in a good fifteen years of hard work to improve this city, and because I think your perspective's warped."
"Everyone has a screwed up perspective! Especially here, especially now, with the way this city is. My perspective's fucked up because everyone I was supposed to rely on dropped the ball, and the only people I could count on were crooks! Panacea got warped because her parents let her down, because nobody ever sat down and talked to her about who her dad was. So she convinced herself that she was doomed to follow in his footsteps."
"How do you know that?"
"I was there! I, we, tried to help. But she's never had someone talk to her, so she didn't know how to listen to us. Which is probably a blessing in disguise, because she didn't listen to Jack or Bonesaw either."
Flechette gave me a funny look. Her eyes were vague shadows behind her visor, but I could see one distort in size as she raised an eyebrow.
"What?" I asked. Something about Panacea and Glory Girl? She'd said something earlier too.
She spoke, interrupting my thoughts before I could frame them into a question. "Nothing. I guess you're going to tell me you tried to help Armsmaster too?"
"No. I turned to him for help, and he tried to screw me over. I joined the Undersiders to give him the details he wanted on their powers and methods and he not only hung me out to dry, but he tried to kill me. He did kill Kaiser and Fenja, nearly killed Kid Win by accident, and there were others there too. All for his own personal glory. Because he had some kind of crazy tunnel-vision when it came to his personal ambition and successes."
Flechette frowned.
I took the chance to hammer my point home. "He knew I was just an undercover agent, but he thought my death and the casual sacrifices of the others who had chosen to risk their lives to stop Leviathan were worth getting a personal shot at killing Leviathan one on one."
"What?" Parian asked. "Seriously? Doesn't that violate the deal with-"
"Yes," Flechette cut her off. "Yes it would."
I shrugged, looking at Flechette, Parian and the Dolltown residents. "Probably going to get in trouble for revealing that, but I'll leave it to you to decide what to do with that information. I'm already a priority target anyways, pretty much, what with our intended takeover of the city."
"You seem to be missing the point that you're under arrest right now," Flechette spoke.

Of course that Flechette doesn't believe Skitter, especially when she told her what Armsmaster was capable to do for his moment of glory. I wouldn't believe either, without knowing Armsmaster. I mean, Flechette must have an idealized image of Armsmaster and heroes in general. As a heroine, she probably modeled herself after them. And when a villain wants to break this idealized image, she gets pissed and doubtful. Very natural reaction. Sorry to disappoint you, Flechette, but not all heroes are as good and idealistic like you. Yes, Armsmaster wants to change and is on the right way of becoming a better version of himself, which is appreciable, but not everyone is like him. Besides, what he already did can't be forgiven so easy. "sighs" I don't want to imagine how Flechette will react if she'll ever find out how CORRUPTED Triumvirate sans Legend is...She will not react very good, that's for sure.

I sighed. "And nothing I say is getting through."

"It's exactly what I was talking about before, you're just using information Tattletale fed you to try to screw with my head, fill me with doubts and paranoia."
"And how would I know you'd be here? I'd have to get the information from her in advance, remember?"
"Tattletale told you I'd be here."
Okay, that's admittedly possible.
"So your interpretation of events is that I knew you were here, I came prepared with all this made up information on Armsmaster to mess with you, and I just let you stab me?"
As if mentioning it reminded my brain, I could feel the pain radiating from my shoulder. At least she'd left the spike in there. It seemed even better at preventing the bleeding than I'd guessed it would be. A snug fit? I wouldn't bleed to death in the next ten minutes.
She didn't venture a response.
"Flechette, if you don't believe me, you can look at the armband Dragon gave us for the fight against Leviathan. Armsmaster fried it with an EMP to keep me from broadcasting Leviathan's location to anyone, and then he moved in only after he'd thought Leviathan had killed me. It's on top of a ceiling panel in the shelter on Slater street. Women's bathroom, above the middle toilet. I couldn't keep it in case Dragon used it to track me down, but you can go grab it if she hasn't sent someone already. Get a tinker you trust to look at it."
"The results could be fabricated."
"Tell your tinker that. He'll keep it in mind, and he can tell you the likelihood of it being something I'm doing to frame Armsmaster versus it being Armsmaster's work."
"Why are you telling me this?"
"Because I'm trying to convince you that 'right' isn't the exclusive property of the good guys, just like 'wrong' isn't wholly on our side of the fence. Armsmaster's sense of 'good' was purely what was good for his own interests. I'm trying to do the right thing more often than not, believe it or not, or I'm doing the wrong things for the right reasons."
"And which were you doing here, trying to recruit Parian?"
I glanced at Parian, "I don't know yet. Thinking it's more the latter."
There was a rumble as Ballistic knocked over a building somewhere a distance away.
"We don't need your help," Flechette said.
"Don't you? I don't know why you're wearing that getup, but I'm assuming those other people are because of what Bonesaw did."
I could see the people in the concealing costumes shifting uncomfortably.
"Why I'm in this costume isn't any of your business. I'm here to help."
"I can help more. I can get them medical attention, start reversing what the Slaughterhouse Nine did to them."

Honestly, I won't mind at all if Skitter will ever be arrested (actually, the only thing that will make me sad will be Danny's reaction at the news that his daughter wasn't who he believed she was. Plus, Undersiders' reactions, particularly Lisa and Brian). This might go in two ways: she'll be send straight to the Birdcage, and there she'll impose her own law- knowing her- interact more with Amy and probably with her father, destroy Lung's dick for the second time, humiliating him in front of everyone :lol, and planning a daring prison break

. Skitter in Birdcage would be something I'm kind of eager to see happening in the future. The other way: she can become a hero under probation (because she helped heroes many times and fought bravely against S9), and after a short time she'll impose her own law, turning into the most ruthless hero Protectorate ever saw and still keeping her connections with Undersiders. Because this is Skitter we're talking about. But I'll mind A LOT if she'll be arrested BEFORE saving Dinah. Because Skitter is the key of Dinah's freedom. Without Skitter's insistence, maybe others will lose their interest into saving the kid. And Dinah will be forever trapped in a fate worse than death.

Parian spoke, her voice quiet, "So you're asking me to choose between being loyal to a friend who's helped me, comforted me and kept me sane these past few weeks, or selling my soul for the… supposed greater good."

"Saying you'd be selling your soul is a bit overdramatic," I said.
"I'm an artist, I'm dramatic by nature."
"Then let me make an emotional appeal. Come to my territory. Let me show you what I'm doing there, and what I want to help you do for your people."
"You'll just take the advantage of the situation to escape," Flechette said.
"I don't really think you can keep me," I said, sounding calmer than I felt.
"We'll see," she responded.
I sent a command to Atlas.
"Easiest option is that I send a message to Ballistic. I really don't want to do that, because it's going to get people hurt or killed."
"His files say he doesn't kill," she responded.
"With his power? It's easy to accidentally go too far. Combine that with the sheer danger your own power presents? It's like playing tag with guns. Not saying I don't respect your power, with the damage you did to Leviathan, but he can escalate harder and faster than you. If you two get in a shootout, someone's going to get hurt."
As if to punctuate my statement, there was a sound of a building collapsing nearby.
"Well then," Flechette said. She adjusted her grip on the spike of metal that she held between her fingers. A dart. She poked it through the armor of my wrist. When I tried to move my arm, it was fixed to the ground. "I guess I'll come back for you later, after Ballistic's left."
"Undo it, release me," I said, pulling harder.
"No. And stop struggling. Unless you can tear that costume, you're not going to pull free. It's bonded."
"You're making a mistake," I growled. "I'm only trying to help."
"And I'm doing my job. I get that maybe your intentions are good, but I'm obligated to take you in, especially now that I've heard your confession of intent to seize the city."
"How many wrongs have been done by people who were 'just following orders'?" I asked.
I directed Atlas in through an open window. Every set of eyes was on Flechette and I, which made it easy for him to slip into the room. My bugs had identified tripwires Parian had set, and navigating Atlas around them wasn't too hard.
"Stop it!" Parian cried. For a second, I thought it had to do with Atlas, but her shout followed within a second of my question to Flechette.
Flechette looked like she'd been slapped. I stopped Atlas where he was, poised a few feet behind Parian. I folded his scythe-like claws down and out of the way.

Parian doesn't want to become a villain, neither a hero. She wants to remain the lovable and dedicated to her people rogue she always was. I appreciate her for her choice and determination and I think that Skitter should give up at trying to convince her to be something she doesn't want to be. Its her choice, Skitter, respect it, if you want to help her, then why don't you give some of your money? I mean, you have so much money now and she doesn't have anything left: no territory (after there's no more cars left in Dolltown, it looks like Ballistic is trying his hand with buildings), her people are trying to recover after being Bonesawed, she doesn't have money for their treatments, and she only have Flechette by her side. She lost almost everything. You have a lot to give her even if she doesn't accept your deal. Please, Skitter, help her.

"Skitter… if we let you go, do you promise not to attack or interfere under any circumstance?"

"Parian?" Flechette asked. She sounded almost hurt.
"It depends, are you going to go confront Ballistic?"
"Honestly? Yes. You said he'd keep coming until he took us out."
I frowned, but they couldn't see that behind my mask. Ballistic was angry, he was dangerous, and there was little to nothing tying him to Coil's service, outside of some vague sense of duty.
"Are you going to arrest him?" I asked.
"No," Parian responded, at the same time Flechette said, "Yes."
"We could scare him off," Parian said. "Beat him up a little."
"And he'd bring in the other Travelers and Undersiders to wipe us out," Flechette said.
Parian looked at me, "He wouldn't, would he?"
I nodded, "He would."
Parian sagged, dropping into a sitting position. Flechette turned to look at her and froze. "What the hell is that?"
She'd seen Atlas.
"I brought him in here as insurance," I said. "I was thinking about taking Parian hostage if you went ahead with my arrest, but she started being reasonable and I told him to back down."
"What is he?"
"Panacea made him for me, for fighting the Nine. Just a big beetle with sharp claws."
"That's what you were using to fly around, when we were fighting the Nine?"
I nodded.
"Creepy."
"Look," I said, seeing a chance to regain control of the conversation. "I'll extend my offer a third time. Join us, Parian. We're not as scary or as bad as we look at first glance. You'll see that if you check out my territory. I'm not threatening you or extorting this out of you. You can say no-"
"Because I have a weapon at your throat," Flechette said.
"Because it's her call," I said, my voice firm. "Because I really do think she'll be safer overall."
"From those people who 'aren't as scary or bad at first glance'," Flechette said.
"From all the other capes and unpowered individuals who would prey on her and her people."
"I can't," Parian said. "No. I have to turn down your offer."
I sighed. Damn. Damn, damn, damn. "Can I ask why?"
"Flechette's done too much to help me, to help us, for me to turn around and become her enemy. Even if it's for the greater good. And maybe they won't forgive me for it, but I can't agree to short-term gains, to giving them some medical care and reconstructive surgery now, in exchange for becoming a criminal for the rest of my life."
"What if this was temporary?" Can't reveal too much. Can't let them know Coil's reign ends soon, if everything goes according to plan.
"I'd still carry the label, wouldn't I? Maybe I don't agree with everything Flechette said, but I do agree that just calling myself a villain, even for a short time, it wouldn't be something I could shake so easily. We'll find another way. I can use my power to make money, I'll heal them. I'll make up for failing to protect them."

GIVE HER YOUR MONEY, SKITTER. Help this girl, even if she refused you and might never change her mind. Don't be egoistical just because she doesn't want to betray her beliefs and become something she doesn't feel she's. Or she doesn't want to turn her back to her hero girlfriend. Your recruitment attempt got completely ruined just like a full parking lot when Ballistic decides to visit it. But you can still do something very good for Parian and her people. With enough money, they can find a talented medical Tinker or a biology manipulator and be normal again.

A woman with a cloth hood covering everything but one eye reached out and put a hand on Parian's shoulder, squeezed.

She felt the same kind of responsibility for her people that I did for mine. The realization made me all the more disappointed that she'd said no.
"Okay," I said. "Flechette, I'm going to reach behind my back. I'm not drawing a weapon."
"No," she said, "Whatever deals Parian is making, they don't change the fact that you're under arrest. I have to do my job, and with the Nine gone, your faction is a priority. Especially with your suspected involvement in the incident with Glory Girl and Panacea."
I frowned. I needed another option. My armor was loaded down with bugs, and that included the compartment. I could feel what I needed. It was just a question of getting it free.
Spiders drew silk around the object in question, then made their way across my shoulder and up the back of my arm, braiding the threads together as they went and hooking them against the edges of my armor to get traction in the right areas. They reached my hand and encircled one finger.
I twitched that finger and tugged the thread. Another, harder pull, and it came free. My bugs muffled the sound of the object hitting ground.
"What was that?" Flechette asked.
As a mass, they carried the object into plain view. My cell phone.
"You make the call, so you know I'm not trying something," I said.
Flechette frowned. "There's no reason."
"There's a great reason, but I don't think you'll believe me if we don't do things my way. Password to unlock the phone is seven-two-eight-one."
She picked up the phone and threw it over her shoulder at Parian. Parian caught it.
"Me?"
"I'm keeping my attention on Skitter. Don't forget to watch that beetle of hers while you're making the call."
Parian nodded, too quickly. "What was that number?"
"Seven-two-eight-one."
"Okay."
"Go to the contact list."
"It's all gibberish. Symbols and numbers and stuff."
"It's a code. First number that starts with heart-star-colon."
"Okay. It's ringing. Should I put it on speaker phone?"
"No," Flechette said.
"Tell her you're speaking on behalf of Skitter," I said.
Parian nodded. "Um. Hi? I'm speaking for Skitter."
"Tell her-"
"She just said, um, Emerald-S."
"Tell her Celery-A."
"Celery-A. Okay."
"Upstairs, beneath the workbench, to the bottom-left of the painting, there's a panel. Tell her to remove it."
Parian relayed the instructions. There was a pause of no less than two minutes before she said, "The girl on the other end says there's a safe."
"Six-one-one," I paused to let Parian relay the numbers, "Two-zero-three… one-zero-zero… six-six-three."
"It's open. She says there's stacks of money?"
"Tell her to gather two hundred thousand dollars from the safe, pick five people who need a break from work, C included. Only C should know about it, I don't want the others to get greedy. They can pack it into a truck, head north and meet you just before the ramp where Lord Street turns on to the ninety-five."
"I don't understand."
"Leave this city, Parian. There's nothing good left here anymore. That money's yours. Use it to heal and help the friends and family you still have left. Get out of here, use the money to get yourselves settled, get some therapy for everything you've been through, and go pursue that career in fashion you said you wanted."
"Why?"
"There's been too much ugliness here. There's bound to be more. I… I guess I have the money, and you need it. And I guess I feel complicit in what happened. The Nine did what they did to Dolltown because we'd forced them into a corner. Maybe they would have attacked anyways, they were headed your way. I don't know, but let me do this. Let me… I don't know. Saying 'clear my conscience' sounds naive."
"And to get this money, I have to leave this city?" Parian asked. She looked stunned.
"Consider it a strong encouragement. In the end, it's your choice. I'd appreciate it if you kept quiet about my role in your leaving, and about me giving you the money. I think the Undersiders would understand, for the most part, but the Travelers might take issue with my interference."
She didn't have a reply. I glanced at Flechette but I didn't see anything in her expression.
"My employee is still on the phone," I reminded her.
"Oh. Um. What was I supposed to say, again?"
I repeated the message.
While Parian relayed it, Flechette commented, "That's a lot of money to be giving away."
"I have more." I did. The amount I was giving Parian amounted to a little less than a third of my current holdings. The bank account Coil had assigned to me seemed to be growing in alternating stutters and huge bounds. The benefit of having a bank account that was managed by a guy who called himself 'the Number Man', I supposed.

She did it, guys.

She gave her money.

200.000 $ is enough if they'll find a respectable medical Tinker to fix the people, I think. Unless that Tinker will be super-greedy and ask for more. Now depends of their luck, Skitter did her best to help them. Amy would have been of a great help given the situation, but...well...its better than nothing. Still, you could have given her more than 200.000 $, but you need money for your people as well, Skitter, so I don't blame you. I don't think Parian will be out of the story once she leaves the City. I think she and Skitter will meet at a certain moment and I won't be surprised if Parian and Bonesaw will confront again.

"Lucrative job you have there."

I didn't reply. It was just enough money that it'd be just a little tight to manage in the immediate future, but I felt like it wouldn't be meaningful if it didn't inconvenience me somehow.
"Okay," Parian said. "She said they'll be waiting."
"My territory is closer to the destination than you are. You should leave sooner than later."
She nodded.
"This isn't some trick?" Flechette asked. "Some trap you pre-arranged with those code words?"
"The code was just to inform her everything was fine. No trap. But I think you'll want to accompany her and the others, just to make sure they arrive safely. There's still dangerous people on these streets."
Would she tell me Parian could handle herself?
Flechette turned to look at Parian, apparently considering the same thing. "You play dirty, Skitter."
"All things considered, I think I've been exceedingly fair."
"I can't guard her and keep an eye on you at the same time."
"That was the idea."
"I could nail you down to the ground. Wouldn't even be hard. You'd have to tear your costume to shreds and run back to your territory in whatever you're wearing underneath that."
"You could." I didn't point out that if she did do that, I wouldn't have a chance of tearing my costume.
"I still think you have a warped perspective on things. I don't think you're right."
"I told you where the armband is. Slater street, women's toilets, on top of the ceiling panel above the second of the three toilets. If Dragon hasn't tracked and removed it."
"Right."
"Good luck," I told her. "Whatever happens."
"We're on opposing sides, you know? The next time we meet, we'll be fighting."
"Doesn't mean I wish you badly."
"Right."
She didn't free my armor from the floor, but she stood and joined Parian, who was already walking away. I heard her murmuring, "…to New York City. I'll be finished here in two weeks…"
And then they were out of earshot. There was the sound of Ballistic continuing his rampage, tearing Dolltown to the ground.
Maybe it was good if this place was leveled to the ground. I wasn't superstitious, I wasn't religious, but with what the Nine had done here, even their relatively short visit to this area, it felt darker. Wrong. There was too much death and sadness that had occurred here.
Was that true of the city as well? Was it better just to raze it to the ground and start anew?
I reached over slowly, wincing at the coarse sensation of metal dragging against bone and the red-hot pain of my own tearing flesh.. The movement in my shoulder had shifted the metal spike Flechette had embedded there, pulling sideways against the hole it had punched in my shoulder. I could see the blood welling out, running down into the fabric of my costume. Once I had my hand in position, I began unstrapping the armor panel from my wrist.
Free to stand, I used my knife and some kicks to get the armor free of the floor. Rather than pull the spike free of the flooring as I might have with a nail, I wound up pulling out a roughly cone-shaped chunk of wood, the spike and everything it had contacted seeming to have bonded together. I picked up the armor and tucked it under one arm.
This could have gone worse. I might have to face some ramifications if the PRT took offense to my bringing up what had happened with Armsmaster, but somehow I felt like I couldn't have let Flechette stay in the dark. I just wasn't sure if that was for my sake or if it was for hers. The money I'd handed away would hurt, too, but it felt necessary.
I needed medical attention, and I felt like I had to check on my territory after I'd seen Parian's. I climbed onto Atlas. His flight would be smoother and less jarring than walking.
I heard another crash as Ballistic continued tearing through Dolltown. I could have notified him that Parian was gone, but… no.
Maybe this wanton destruction would give him a chance to vent and find release over whatever it was that was haunting him.
I'd have to get in touch with Trickster and Genesis to arrange our visit with the Mayor for tonight. I'd have to deal with the threat on my life, whatever form it took.
I didn't feel afraid. Anxious? Yes. But not terrified, not quivering or panicking. I wasn't sure if that was good or bad. Grue had lamented my lack of survival instincts, not so long ago. Had recent events worn them down even further?
I shook my head. I'd have time for introspection later. For now, I had to plan.

They're going to New York but their story is not over yet. Voodoo Dolls are some of my favorite characters in this story. I love both their ship and them as individual persons. Well, Parian is my favorite one, but Flechette is a badass hero who deserve my respect. Even if she's still clueless as fuck when it comes to everything that happens around her and she still doesn't trust Skitter completely. But I can see Flechette as someone who'd have no qualms to kill any S9 member who'll intersect their steps with hers (and other villains as bad as them) and even ready to die anytime to protect Parian's life. I'll dare to say that I'll like Flechette more like a vigilante than a hero, but I'd be fine with anything she choose to be.
As for Skitter, I'd be unable to free myself like this if I were in her place. Because I'll faint every single time when I'll try to make a move. If Manton will ever make Siberian able to finally catch Skitter and rip her in half, she'll be like:
Skitter: Where is the other half of my body? I look ugly like this. I don't think Brian will like me anymore if he'll see me like this.

Good night and sleep well, my lovely friends.

rafuki22 · Jul 31, 2018

blackarrow said:
Hello, people who are more or less fans of Voodo Dolls (this is how I'm going to call Flechette and Parian ship, Voodoo Dolls, because one of them create and controls dolls and another one uses needles-darts to stab people she doesn't like too much. I think is a pretty ok name for this ship, even if its a bit morbid ). So, I'm calling the following ships like this: Sabah/Lily as Voodoo Dolls, Colin/Dragon as Flesh and Wires and Brian/Taylor as Fireflies. Pretty uninspired, eh? ) Ok, let's see what Skitter is going to tell to a very angry (and worried for her girlfriend) Flechette to make her realize that she doesn't want to hurt Parian, unlike that crazy man in the background who plays ping-pong by himself with any car that is unfortunate enough to appear in his way (no, seriously, Ballistic, but what have the cars ever did to you to be so uncontrollable pissed on them with every fucking occasion? This is the second mystery involving Travelers that I want to know about right after the one with Noelle). Let's see if Flechette will understand Skitter's good intentions and will not hurt her further. Not that being hurt actually bothers Skitter anymore, but it kind of bothers me Colony 15.6

It looks like Flechette is more ruthless now than she was during her Interlude, when she took great care to not hurt those thugs/rapists too much, unlike Shadow Stalker. Here, she doesn't have any qualms to threaten and hurt Skitter, no matter what Skitter is trying to tell her. CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT . Which is good in Flechette's case. I support her being so ruthless, she acts exactly how I'd like to see a hero acting. Not giving any chance to the villain to get their upper hand over her or people she's protecting. But, right now, her motivation for being so ruthless is not the correct one. She honestly believes that Skitter was the one who broke Amy, not Bonesaw and Jack. Maybe she doesn't know how the events happened and I'll not blame her for this lack of knowledge. I'd rather blame Amy- sorry, Amy, but you should have told to everyone who's holding the biggest responsibility of your break. But you preferred to remain silent about the whole thing. And now heroes believe that Skitter and Tattletale must bear full responsibility for this double tragedy. I'm not very happy with your oath of omerta, Amy. Alright, Flechette, better listen to Skitter about what she's going to tell you about how the things happened for real. I understand you don't trust her, I won't trust her either while in your place but at least I'd be willing to listen first before deciding to murder what to do with her. I'm always willing to listen people, even people I don't trust. Communication is very important in human interactions.

"shakes her head" Flechette knows so very few details about everything. I feel pity for her. A lot of pity, I must add. I don't judge her not even a single bit for how she threats Skitter. Its clearly that she doesn't want to kill Skitter, she only is confused and disoriented about what she already knows and what Skitter is telling her. I bet she doesn't even know about the fact that Armsmaster broke the truce, killing few villains and getting so close to kill heroes too during Leviathan Battle. Of course she doesn't know, only the most important people in Protectorate know about what Armsmaster did. The more I read about Flechette, the more pity I feel for her. Btw, I noticed that Parian is not blind. She can see. Maybe Bonesaw's acid wasn't enough to burn her eyes or destroy her sight. This is very good, too bad that her people weren't so lucky.

Of course that Flechette doesn't believe Skitter, especially when she told her what Armsmaster was capable to do for his moment of glory. I wouldn't believe either, without knowing Armsmaster. I mean, Flechette must have an idealized image of Armsmaster and heroes in general. As a heroine, she probably modeled herself after them. And when a villain wants to break this idealized image, she gets pissed and doubtful. Very natural reaction. Sorry to disappoint you, Flechette, but not all heroes are as good and idealistic like you. Yes, Armsmaster wants to change and is on the right way of becoming a better version of himself, which is appreciable, but not everyone is like him. Besides, what he already did can't be forgiven so easy. "sighs" I don't want to imagine how Flechette will react if she'll ever find out how CORRUPTED Triumvirate sans Legend is...She will not react very good, that's for sure.

Honestly, I won't mind at all if Skitter will ever be arrested (actually, the only thing that will make me sad will be Danny's reaction at the news that his daughter wasn't who he believed she was. Plus, Undersiders' reactions, particularly Lisa and Brian). This might go in two ways: she'll be send straight to the Birdcage, and there she'll impose her own law- knowing her- interact more with Amy and probably with her father, destroy Lung's dick for the second time, humiliating him in front of everyone :lol, and planning a daring prison break . Skitter in Birdcage would be something I'm kind of eager to see happening in the future. The other way: she can become a hero under probation (because she helped heroes many times and fought bravely against S9), and after a short time she'll impose her own law, turning into the most ruthless hero Protectorate ever saw and still keeping her connections with Undersiders. Because this is Skitter we're talking about. But I'll mind A LOT if she'll be arrested BEFORE saving Dinah. Because Skitter is the key of Dinah's freedom. Without Skitter's insistence, maybe others will lose their interest into saving the kid. And Dinah will be forever trapped in a fate worse than death.

Parian doesn't want to become a villain, neither a hero. She wants to remain the lovable and dedicated to her people rogue she always was. I appreciate her for her choice and determination and I think that Skitter should give up at trying to convince her to be something she doesn't want to be. Its her choice, Skitter, respect it, if you want to help her, then why don't you give some of your money? I mean, you have so much money now and she doesn't have anything left: no territory (after there's no more cars left in Dolltown, it looks like Ballistic is trying his hand with buildings), her people are trying to recover after being Bonesawed, she doesn't have money for their treatments, and she only have Flechette by her side. She lost almost everything. You have a lot to give her even if she doesn't accept your deal. Please, Skitter, help her.

GIVE HER YOUR MONEY, SKITTER. Help this girl, even if she refused you and might never change her mind. Don't be egoistical just because she doesn't want to betray her beliefs and become something she doesn't feel she's. Or she doesn't want to turn her back to her hero girlfriend. Your recruitment attempt got completely ruined just like a full parking lot when Ballistic decides to visit it. But you can still do something very good for Parian and her people. With enough money, they can find a talented medical Tinker or a biology manipulator and be normal again.

She did it, guys. She gave her money. 200.000 $ is enough if they'll find a respectable medical Tinker to fix the people, I think. Unless that Tinker will be super-greedy and ask for more. Now depends of their luck, Skitter did her best to help them. Amy would have been of a great help given the situation, but...well...its better than nothing. Still, you could have given her more than 200.000 $, but you need money for your people as well, Skitter, so I don't blame you. I don't think Parian will be out of the story once she leaves the City. I think she and Skitter will meet at a certain moment and I won't be surprised if Parian and Bonesaw will confront again.

They're going to New York but their story is not over yet. Voodoo Dolls are some of my favorite characters in this story. I love both their ship and them as individual persons. Well, Parian is my favorite one, but Flechette is a badass hero who deserve my respect. Even if she's still clueless as fuck when it comes to everything that happens around her and she still doesn't trust Skitter completely. But I can see Flechette as someone who'd have no qualms to kill any S9 member who'll intersect their steps with hers (and other villains as bad as them) and even ready to die anytime to protect Parian's life. I'll dare to say that I'll like Flechette more like a vigilante than a hero, but I'd be fine with anything she choose to be.
As for Skitter, I'd be unable to free myself like this if I were in her place. Because I'll faint every single time when I'll try to make a move. If Manton will ever make Siberian able to finally catch Skitter and rip her in half, she'll be like:
Skitter: Where is the other half of my body? I look ugly like this. I don't think Brian will like me anymore if he'll see me like this.

Good night and sleep well, my lovely friends.

Are you underestimating lung? You should not do that, skitter got lucky the first time and the second time she got help. Also in the jailbird there are no bugs.
This is also the problem of always,more hype for skitter, everything you have read has not taught you anything? Everything always worsens and escalates in worm, one of the only reasons why she survives, is because she is the protagonist, with the exception of leviatan arc, she and her companions did not die because they are the main characters, the difference is that wildbow makes it seem more realistic.
And do not come to me with that I do not like skitter, because it is, for the most part, true, besides, I like taylor, not skitter, there is a difference.
Do you know how hypocritical you are being? Saying you would give them the opportunity to speak, even to people you do not know, when you clearly would not(Jack,coil,etc...).
That the heroes become ruthless as you say, would cause ... problems, the quantity and quality of said problems? Unknown, but they would not be few or mild, Injustice (the DC game) exists for a reason.
I hope you are not willing to turn a blind eye to the actions of skitter, what is wrong is wrong, even if necessary, depending, of course, on the person, the public, personal and universal perception (the multiversal philosophical morality is a complicated subject)
There is a reason why most written heroes are not ruthless, of course, there are exceptions.
But there are also exceptions to those exceptions.
Could you please respond in order?
And ... well ... I do not know what else to say ... so I'll end up with a meme.

blackarrow · Aug 1, 2018

rafuki22 said:
Are you underestimating lung? You should not do that, skitter got lucky the first time and the second time she got help. Also in the jailbird there are no bugs.
This is also the problem of always,more hype for skitter, everything you have read has not taught you anything? Everything always worsens and escalates in worm, one of the only reasons why she survives, is because she is the protagonist, with the exception of leviatan arc, she and her companions did not die because they are the main characters, the difference is that wildbow makes it seem more realistic.
And do not come to me with that I do not like skitter, because it is, for the most part, true, besides, I like taylor, not skitter, there is a difference.
Do you know how hypocritical you are being? Saying you would give them the opportunity to speak, even to people you do not know, when you clearly would not(Jack,coil,etc...).
That the heroes become ruthless as you say, would cause ... problems, the quantity and quality of said problems? Unknown, but they would not be few or mild, Injustice (the DC game) exists for a reason.
I hope you are not willing to turn a blind eye to the actions of skitter, what is wrong is wrong, even if necessary, depending, of course, on the person, the public, personal and universal perception (the multiversal philosophical morality is a complicated subject)
There is a reason why most written heroes are not ruthless, of course, there are exceptions.
But there are also exceptions to those exceptions.
Could you please respond in order?
And ... well ... I do not know what else to say ... so I'll end up with a meme.

I agree that first time Skitter got help and she was lucky, but she second time she used her freaking brains for defeating Lung. She didn't got help (well, if you call Newter's blood help, then I guess it was helpful) and she was the one who helped everyone: against Oni Lee and Lung. I don't underestimate Lung but I don't underestimate Skitter either, she can beat him up even without bugs- she's smart enough to find new methods to ruin his days. She can make him her bitch :lol. She proved to be very smart and resourceful and I have no doubts about her in the future.
Almost all protagonists have to survive, this is the unwritten rule of every piece of literature/movie ever created. With few exceptions, the protagonist survives, no matter what. Skitter is not the exception from this rule either.
I LIKE both Taylor and Skitter and I already blamed "both" Taylor and Skitter when "they" did something that it was opposite to my own morals and I'll blame "them" without any hesitation. But I'm also PROUD of "them" when "they're" doing something good and heroic. And Skitter did a lot, a lot of good things that make me so proud of her. Actually, I think I like Skitter more than Taylor.

I see her as a HEROIC person, despite playing a villain role. She's my second favorite character, after all.
I will never give the opportunity to speak to "people" like Coil and Jack because they're some of the greatest manipulators in the entire story and once they open their mouth they can manipulate almost everyone without many difficulties. NO, I won't give them the opportunity to speak and mess with my mind. I'll give them only a...bullet straight into their heads.
Of course when Skitter did something wrong (in my eyes), I blamed her. I said already and I demonstrated it many times (when I blamed her for trying to recruit Parian despite Parian refusing to be a villain, when she abandoned Mr Gladly to Leviathan, when she blindly trusts Coil with Dinah, despite everything, when she puts herself down all the freaking time, etc)
I LOVE ruthless heroes and vigilantes and I don't give a damn- usually- about consequences, ok? Actually, I'd like to see more chaos in this story. As much chaos as it is possible. That would be more exciting to read.

Let the chaos reign.

KnownParadox · Aug 1, 2018

Yeah you do not fuck around with the Dragon of Brockton Bay, the King of Escalation, Lung "Probably Literally Mother-Fucking" Lung.

First fight? Caught by surprise and then get sideswiped by the Undersiders. In Lungs mind, that's fine, she barely did any damage aside from the crotch rotting and that healed over three weeks.

Second fight, ganged up on by 5-6 powerful parahumans, and still under the impression she's weak from earlier, under estimates her and goes down, due to super drug almost directly to brain.

Any hypothetical third fight? He's seen the vast majority of the things in "Taylor's Toolbox" (Love that thing by the way, coined by some person on Reddit who explained her deep thinking methodical search through of her options in a fight, brought up in , a great podcast where they breakdown Worm, chapter by chapter, Arc by Arc, you should give it a listen!), anything new would probably just be improvements of the old, anything else can be adapted too, he knows not to under estimate her, he knows she has "only bug powers" knows to not under estimate that.

Lung has almost everything to beat Taylor in a fight, he's a flying Lightning Bruiser - TV Tropes who can shoot fire that escalates with combat, and has a highly intelligent mind, at least in combat anyway, the only thing he lacks is an army, and ambition.

Edit: Uh, did not mean to leave the giant reddit post there, sorry!

blackarrow · Aug 1, 2018

KnownParadox said:
Yeah you do not fuck around with the Dragon of Brockton Bay, the King of Escalation, Lung "Probably Literally Mother-Fucking" Lung.

First fight? Caught by surprise and then get sideswiped by the Undersiders. In Lungs mind, that's fine, she barely did any damage aside from the crotch rotting and that healed over three weeks.

Second fight, ganged up on by 5-6 powerful parahumans, and still under the impression she's weak from earlier, under estimates her and goes down, due to super drug almost directly to brain.

Any hypothetical third fight? He's seen the vast majority of the things in "Taylor's Toolbox" (Love that thing by the way, coined by some person on Reddit who explained her deep thinking methodical search through of her options in a fight, brought up in , a great podcast where they breakdown Worm, chapter by chapter, Arc by Arc, you should give it a listen!), anything new would probably just be improvements of the old, anything else can be adapted too, he knows not to under estimate her, he knows she has "only bug powers" knows to not under estimate that.

Lung has almost everything to beat Taylor in a fight, he's a flying Lightning Bruiser - TV Tropes who can shoot fire that escalates with combat, and has a highly intelligent mind, at least in combat anyway, the only thing he lacks is an army, and ambition.

Edit: Uh, did not mean to leave the giant reddit post there, sorry!

Yes, I agree, nobody should underestimate Lung but they should not underestimate Skitter either. These are two of the most scary motherfuckers in this story when it comes to fight. But I still think that Skitter will win the third hypothetical fight as well. Especially now, when she's a much more better at fighting and more versatile than she was during Villains sans ABB vs ABB. Unless Lung will come up with a plan that can work very well against her own plans, he'll be BONED.

rafuki22 · Aug 1, 2018

blackarrow said:
I agree that first time Skitter got help and she was lucky, but she second time she used her freaking brains for defeating Lung. She didn't got help (well, if you call Newter's blood help, then I guess it was helpful) and she was the one who helped everyone: against Oni Lee and Lung. I don't underestimate Lung but I don't underestimate Skitter either, she can beat him up even without bugs- she's smart enough to find new methods to ruin his days. She can make him her bitch :lol. She proved to be very smart and resourceful and I have no doubts about her in the future.
Almost all protagonists have to survive, this is the unwritten rule of every piece of literature/movie ever created. With few exceptions, the protagonist survives, no matter what. Skitter is not the exception from this rule either.
I LIKE both Taylor and Skitter and I already blamed "both" Taylor and Skitter when "they" did something that it was opposite to my own morals and I'll blame "them" without any hesitation. But I'm also PROUD of "them" when "they're" doing something good and heroic. And Skitter did a lot, a lot of good things that make me so proud of her. Actually, I think I like Skitter more than Taylor. I see her as a HEROIC person, despite playing a villain role. She's my second favorite character, after all.
I will never give the opportunity to speak to "people" like Coil and Jack because they're some of the greatest manipulators in the entire story and once they open their mouth they can manipulate almost everyone without many difficulties. NO, I won't give them the opportunity to speak and mess with my mind. I'll give them only a...bullet straight into their heads.
Of course when Skitter did something wrong (in my eyes), I blamed her. I said already and I demonstrated it many times (when I blamed her for trying to recruit Parian despite Parian refusing to be a villain, when she abandoned Mr Gladly to Leviathan, when she blindly trusts Coil with Dinah, despite everything, when she puts herself down all the freaking time, etc)
I LOVE ruthless heroes and vigilantes and I don't give a damn- usually- about consequences, ok? Actually, I'd like to see more chaos in this story. As much chaos as it is possible. That would be more exciting to read. Let the chaos reign.

blackarrow said:
Yes, I agree, nobody should underestimate Lung but they should not underestimate Skitter either. These are two of the most scary motherfuckers in this story when it comes to fight. But I still think that Skitter will win the third hypothetical fight as well. Especially now, when she's a much more better at fighting and more versatile than she was during Villains sans ABB vs ABB. Unless Lung will come up with a plan that can work very well against her own plans, he'll be BONED.

Congratulations, the chaos reigns and most of your favorite characters have died, and the best thing is that everything has been thanks to you and your lack of conscience for the consequences, even me, that I consider myself to be a good chaotic, neutral chaotic, neutral good or true neutral, would not cause chaos to reign without good reason, and no, entertainment is not a good reason.
In the second fight with lung, she had help, with the blood of newter, and a large number of parahumans, like kaiser, to fight against him.
The problem with skitter, is that they overestimate her too much, she does great things, but they take situations out of context to make her more cool than she is.
There is a difference between skitter and Taylor, you will understand.
People like you and I will only make the situation worse.
Edit:Taylor, without her insects, is a human, lung can grow into a dragon that gets stronger, in a fight one vs one, she would lose without a doubt.

blackarrow · Aug 1, 2018

rafuki22 said:
Congratulations, the chaos reigns and most of your favorite characters have died, and the best thing is that everything has been thanks to you and your lack of conscience for the consequences, even me, that I consider myself to be a good chaotic, neutral chaotic, neutral good or true neutral, would not cause chaos to reign without good reason, and no, entertainment is not a good reason.
In the second fight with lung, she had help, with the blood of newter, and a large number of parahumans, like kaiser, to fight against him.
The problem with skitter, is that they overestimate her too much, she does great things, but they take situations out of context to make her more cool than she is.
There is a difference between skitter and Taylor, you will understand.
People like you and I will only make the situation worse.
Edit:Taylor, without her insects, is a human, lung can grow into a dragon that gets stronger, in a fight one vs one, she would lose without a doubt.

Yes, I want CHAOS, I'm chaotic good but I want this story to end in a BIG CLUSTERFUCK and CHAOS, even with the price of having some of my favorite characters to die. Chaos, chaos everywhere. This is what would make a story like this even more original and crazy than it is already. Of course that I'd like a good ending but only after the chaos will erupt freaking everywhere. Do you have a problem with my morbid wish?

Its ok, I don't have a problem myself "hugs"
She didn't defeated only Lung, but she also gave motherfucking Leviathan an anus- without using her power, only Tinker-tech, she defeated one of the most dangerous evil Tinkers in the whole world, Mannequin, she fought against Jack and Bonesaw in the same time, she was close to kill the master behind the most powerful non- Endbringer villain in the world, Siberian, she did so many great things.

What kind of cool thing Lung ever did besides leading ABB and getting his gang destroyed? Nothing. Ah, and fighting against a 15 years old girl? Nothing. Yes, I don't underestimate him at all, he's one of the strongest villains, but he isn't as cool as Skitter.
Taylor, without her insects, is a human, but Lung, without his power, is also a human. If they ever fight, without powers, of course that Lung will beat her up. He's physically stronger anyway and he's more experienced in combat. But with powers, Taylor is more strategic and cunning than he's (at least from what I saw so far)

AmbarGriss · Aug 1, 2018

To be fair, so far in the story, Lung did nothing, but be defeated by a depressed 15 years old girl.

Vayhle · Aug 1, 2018

AmbarGriss said:
To be fair, so far in the story, Lung did nothing, but be defeated by a depressed 15 years old girl.

Twice ️

Let's read Worm and its sequel Ward by Wildbow (One chapter/every day)

Anti-nihilist(maybe).

Anti-nihilist(maybe).

Anti-nihilist(maybe).

Totally not four rats in a trench coat

Anti-nihilist(maybe).

Section XIII

Anti-nihilist(maybe).

SPACE!

Anti-nihilist(maybe).

Anti-nihilist(maybe).

Not a sphere

Anti-nihilist(maybe).

Totally not four rats in a trench coat