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

rafuki22 · Aug 5, 2018

blackarrow said:
I'm always optimistic. This is an annoying (for some people) trait of character I took from my dad.
You know what? You're kind of cute when you're annoyed like this. I like to talk to you. You're fun to talk with and I even appreciate some of your ideas.
Depends of who is going to invest money and time for the good of humanity. In Worm-verse, so far Doctor Mother and her people didn't do too much good, except for creating corrupted heroes. On the other side, they did some pretty amoral things that I can't agree with not even if someone will torture me with paper. So, they're wasting money and resources for some purpose that is still a mystery for me, even if I have theories, but their methods are awful and terrible. Maybe they think themselves as being good people but for outside observers they don't act like god people. I highly DOUBT that Weld or Parian would do half of the terrible things that Cauldron lead by Doctor Mother did/does, if they had their money. This is the difference between really good people and people who see themselves as being good.
As for me not having many allies in a fictional situation of being a fighter for justice, don't forget something: the BEST vigilantes always work alone.

Angry? I? My fury is like a volcano, explosive and violent, but short.
Whatever you say, there are people who do evil for the right reasons, and no opinion will change that.
The best vigilantes become what they kill, or die alone.
...Depending on the hypothetical powers that we have, I would try to help you in your crusade, as a team, although we could also be only allies,or rivals,or enemies...Who knows?
PS:CUTE¡?¡?

Prince Ire · Aug 5, 2018

Birdsie said:
Morality is often ambiguous. If an action has a bad outcome, then the action itself is wrong. Think of it this way: the sum of all happiness created by an action, minus the sum of all pain created by that same action. That's it. A simple equation to measure whether something is good or evil.

Not everyone subscribes to utilitarianism, you know.

Birdsie · Aug 5, 2018

Prince Ire said:
Not everyone subscribes to utilitarianism, you know.

What is your take on it?

blackarrow · Aug 6, 2018

Birdsie said:
Morality is often ambiguous. If an action has a bad outcome, then the action itself is wrong. Think of it this way: the sum of all happiness created by an action, minus the sum of all pain created by that same action. That's it. A simple equation to measure whether something is good or evil.

Where this entire thing breaks down is in the details. What do you do if there is no good choice? What if there is no bad choice? Is not making a choice... a choice? Is ignorance an excuse for amoral or immoral behavior? What about compulsion? Or obligation? Can you kill an unwilling innocent to save one million of them and call it good? How can we actually calculate that, or can it even be calculated?

It shows that we can't fix suffering. It's inevitable and core to the human condition. Bad things happen to good people, people die, and we can't do anything to stop it. This doesn't feel good, and it's not meant to. We have to cope with our suffering. And many people will have different opinions due to differing circumstances between them. People learn from observation, therefore characters like Mannequin, or Doctor Mother achieve their goals in methods that they learned or discovered to be most effective.

Mannequin just wants to spite the name of goodness itself. He isn't an icon and doesn't think of himself as one. He does it for the simple satisfaction of seeing wide-eyed idealists fall to disillusion like he had. This motive is most likely caused by the Simurgh's influence, but it doesn't change his method. His method is personal and close.

Doctor Mother... we don't really know what she wants. We have no evidence that would push us in the direction of thinking what she's saying is true. Nonetheless, we can see in the story that she is cunning, which would lead me to theorize she's using the best methods for achieving whatever her goal is. She's not after money, because she accepts favors instead. She's not after power, because the favors are limited in number and scope and she doesn't seem to have powers and isn't hedonistic in the traditional sense, at least from what we've seen. It could be she wants to destroy the world, or save it, or a myriad of other things.

The question is, seeing that all people have differing learning experiences, circumstances, understanding, motives, and methods. Can we judge? Perhaps we can. Or perhaps it would be too presumptuous? Can it even be determined?

Also, wow. Did I just get philosophical? I apologize. It's like a reflex. I start thinking and writing down and it just... spirals down into this.

Ok, I'll try to give you some short answers, because I'm...pretty busy. I didn't even finished reading this interlude

. But I'll finish tomorrow, promise. Doctor Mother IS after money. She demanded from her clients to either pay her or accept to do whatever dirty things she's asking them to do for her. She mentioned to Jamie that some formulas with powers are expensive and her clients should pay a lot. So, she's interested in either money or personal services. She BLACKMAILS people, even if her blackmail is subtle. But she warned Jamie that if she'll not listen her she'll take her power away from her. If Alexandria will dare to opposite her, do you think that she'll not take away her power from her, condemning her to get sick again? She uses emotional blackmail because she knows that the new and powerful Alexandria will not want to go back at being the sick and weak Rebecca. Doctor Mother is not different from Coil or Jack, only her ways of controlling people are different. Coil controls them through fear, manipulation and empty promises. Jack controls them through stick and carrot method. Doctor Mother controls them through giving them hope, gaining their trust and promising them that they're going to be part of something useful for humanity. Again, empty promises. Doctor Mother is not good, maybe she BELIEVES herself to be good, but she isn't. NOBODY who would sacrifice innocents even for the good of humanity can be defined as a good person, no matter what.
Hitler considered himself a good person too, someone who'd save Germany from its enemies. And look at the results of his "goodness" and "care" for Germany's bright future. Yes, he did saved Germany from the economic collapse but in the end....he brought it to ruins, "thanks" to dragging it and its people in a destructive war. He also killed millions and millions of innocents.
Doctor Mother is doing almost the same thing.

By letting villains escape/making experiments on people so the world might have a bright future (I don't know how, but this is what she expects to happen through her actions), thousands and thousands of people died and will continue to die while their blood is basically on her hands.
I'd rather let the whole world die if I can't do anything to save it than to be responsible of innocent deaths for the sake of saving the world who might not be saved anyway. Speaking about philosophy, I identify myself as an deontologist, NOT an utilitarianist. There should be MORALITY in any decision we take. A decision without morality is a wrong one, in my opinion. Yes, I want to kill criminals, but I'm being pragmatic here. By killing criminals, I save many innocents whom the criminals will kill if they're not killed. This is a decision based on morality AND pragmatism. But there's no morality in killing innocents or saving criminals no matter the purposes.

blackarrow · Aug 6, 2018

Prince Ire said:
Not everyone subscribes to utilitarianism, you know.

Exactly. I'm a deontologist and I'm proud of my judgement.

rafuki22 · Aug 6, 2018

blackarrow said:
Ok, I'll try to give you some short answers, because I'm...pretty busy. I didn't even finished reading this interlude . But I'll finish tomorrow, promise. Doctor Mother IS after money. She demanded from her clients to either pay her or accept to do whatever dirty things she's asking them to do for her. She mentioned to Jamie that some formulas with powers are expensive and her clients should pay a lot. So, she's interested in either money or personal services. She BLACKMAILS people, even if her blackmail is subtle. But she warned Jamie that if she'll not listen her she'll take her power away from her. If Alexandria will dare to opposite her, do you think that she'll not take away her power from her, condemning her to get sick again? She uses emotional blackmail because she knows that the new and powerful Alexandria will not want to go back at being the sick and weak Rebecca. Doctor Mother is not different from Coil or Jack, only her ways of controlling people are different. Coil controls them through fear, manipulation and empty promises. Jack controls them through stick and carrot method. Doctor Mother controls them through giving them hope, gaining their trust and promising them that they're going to be part of something useful for humanity. Again, empty promises. Doctor Mother is not good, maybe she BELIEVES herself to be good, but she isn't. NOBODY who would sacrifice innocents even for the good of humanity can be defined as a good person, no matter what.
Hitler considered himself a good person too, someone who'd save Germany from its enemies. And look at the results of his "goodness" and "care" for Germany's bright future. Yes, he did saved Germany from the economic collapse but in the end....he brought it to ruins, "thanks" to dragging it and its people in a destructive war. He also killed millions and millions of innocents.
Doctor Mother is doing almost the same thing. By letting villains escape/making experiments on people so the world might have a bright future (I don't know how, but this is what she expects to happen through her actions), thousands and thousands of people died and will continue to die while their blood is basically on her hands.
I'd rather let the whole world die if I can't do anything to save it than to be responsible of innocent deaths for the sake of saving the world who might not be saved anyway. Speaking about philosophy, I identify myself as an deontologist, NOT an utilitarianist. There should be MORALITY in any decision we take. A decision without morality is a wrong one, in my opinion. Yes, I want to kill criminals, but I'm being pragmatic here. By killing criminals, I save many innocents whom the criminals will kill if they're not killed. This is a decision based on morality AND pragmatism. But there's no morality in killing innocents or saving criminals no matter the purposes.

We can say many things, but at the moment of truth we can act very differently from what we say.

blackarrow · Aug 7, 2018

Hello, my people. Welcome to the second part of this wonderful Cauldron Interlude. Before I'll start, I want to talk a bit about CODENAMES. Yep, codenames that parahumans- more or less inspired, choose for themselves. There are 3 categories of codenames that make me wonder: what the hell was in these parahumans' minds when they decided to choose a certain codename, despite not being very inspired, or being straight up awful or disgraceful. First category: GENDERED CODENAMES. People who must add their gender to their codename because otherwise nobody else can't tell if they're men or women

. Let's see: MANPower, GloryGIRL, Doctor MOTHER, AllFATHER (the deceased leader of the nazis and Theo's grandfather, if I'm not wrong), LADY Photon, MISS Militia, KID Win, Number MAN. We need a GAL, BOY, FEMME, DAME, DAMSEL, GUY, MISTER so the list will be complete

. Knowing Worm, I won't be surprised to see new characters being so "inspired" use gendered codenames. Otherwise, we can't tell what they're. I'm still waiting for a non-binary character using their own codenames. That would be far more original that the shitty gendered codenames.
Second category: NOBLE CODENAMES.

Usually arrogant parahumans are using these codenames, or someone who doesn't have much imagination. Someone like REGENT, MARQUIS, KAISER, CONTESSA. We're still missing King, Queen, Count, Prince, Princess, Duke, Baron, a few more noble codenames so the list will be complete. Cauldron, with codenames like Doctor Mother, Contessa, Number Man, are not inspired at all when it comes to re-name themselves. The only exception so far (except for Triumvirate and other Cauldron heroes) is Doormaker, pretty cool codename

.
Third category: MERCHANTS CODENAMES. These para-rats are dead now but their codenames are still bugging the hell out of me when I remember them

rofl:. Also, let's not forget Scrub, who is still alive. And whose codename is fucking SCRUB. Again, S9 did a good service to the whole world when they wiped out these rats. Bitch is also a not so very inspired codename

.
Codenames I find ridiculous, but funny: Armsmaster, Clockblocker, Gregor the Snail and Number Man (despire disliking this gendered codename, it's kind of funny).

rofl:
Codenames I like, finding them quite original and inspired: Skitter, Tattletale, Vista, Bonesaw, Spitfire, Genesis, Trickster, Imp, Legend, Alexandria, Panacea, Brandish, Dragon, Parian, Bakuda, Burnscar.
My favorite codenames (also the most poetic ones): Shatterbird, Sundancer, Laserdream, Fleur, Glaistig Uaine.
Ok, enough with codenames, you got the whole idea behind, let's start this second parthttps://parahumans.wordpress.com/2012/11/08/interlude-15-donation-bonus-3/

One by one, the others departed. Legend was first through the doorway Doormaker created, taken to New York. Both Eidolon and Hero made their way to Chicago. Professor Manton and the others left.

Only Alexandria and the Doctor remained.
"You didn't tell them about our long-term goals," Alexandria spoke.
"No. There's issues that have to be addressed first. We've already discussed several."
"Anything I can do?"
"You have your end of the project. I feel they'll come around. Focus on that. I'll handle the projected issues on my side of things. Just need to find the right individual. Someone I can groom, perhaps. Between you and I, one of us is bound to succeed."
Alexandria nodded.
"Your two years are up in three months. Will you be returning to your family?"
"I nearly forgot. I've been so busy." Alexandria frowned.
"It might do you good to see them."
"Maybe." Why did she have her doubts? Why didn't she want to go home?
"Good. I do expect you'll return?"
"Of course."
Maybe, she realized, it was because every memory of her family was tinged with the feelings of despair, of loss. With the Doctor, she had hope.

Alexandria starts to consider Doctor Mother her family, seeing her as the right one to replace her real family, especially since she gave her the powers that cured her cancer, she seems so "nice" and "friendly" with her, she helped her becoming more confident in her own strength, and she basically gave her a new life. Alexandria doesn't want to return to her natural family because she doesn't want to experience those feelings of despair and loss that she experienced in their company when she was sick. She wants to be happy in her own little world, with the person who helped her more than anyone in the world, despite still having a feeling that her new life is not really perfect.

December 13th, 1992

Big.
The clawed hand speared toward the sky, followed by an arm the size of an oak tree. When it turned to slam against the ground, bracing for leverage, she could feel the impact rippling through the air. The dry ground shifted, bulged and cracked as he shouldered his way up and out from underground.
Really big.
Forty-five feet tall at the very least, he climbed forth from underground. His skin was crusted with black stone that might have been obsidian, layers of what might have been cooled magma sloughing off of him as he planted his feet on the ground and stood straight.
'Straight' might have been too generous. He was built like a caricature of a bodybuilder, or a bear-human hybrid. He rippled with muscle, his skin gray, thick and leathery like the hide of a rhinoceros or elephant. His black obsidian horns were so heavy his head hung down. They weren't rooted in his forehead, but in the middle of his face, a half-dozen curved shafts of black crystal twisting their way out of his face and back over the top of his head, some ten feet long. A single red eye glowed from between the gap in two horns, positioned too low. His mouth was a jagged gap in his lower face, twisting up to a point near his temple, lined by jagged horn-like growths that were too irregular to be called teeth.
His claws were the same, not hands in the conventional sense, but mangled growths of the same material that made up his horns, many of the growths as large as Alexandria herself. He could flex them, move them, but they were clearly weapons and nothing else.
The rest of the Protectorate was present, and the local heroes, the Mythics. Rostam, Jamshid, Kaveh, Arash.
It somehow didn't feel like enough. They'd come anticipating earthquake relief. Not this.
The creature roared, and as invulnerable as she was, it almost hurt. A whirlwind blast of sand ripped past them. Kaveh stumbled back, collapsed, blood pouring from his ears, one of his eyeballs obliterated.
The fight hadn't even started, and they'd lost someone.
"Hero," Legend spoke with the smallest tremor in his voice, "Call for help, as much as you can get."
The creature, the Behemoth, stepped closer, raising one claw and pointed at Kaveh. Kaveh the Smith, the builder, the forger.
The man ignited from the inside out, flame and smoke pouring from every orifice as he was turned into a burned-out husk in a matter of seconds. His skeleton disintegrated into fine dust and ash as it crashed to the ground.
He can bypass the Manton effect. She thought, stunned. She flew forward, trying to draw his attention, interjecting herself between the Behemoth and the others.
He pointed his claw once more, and she braced herself, gritting her teeth. Time to see how invincible I am.
But it wasn't fire. A lightning bolt flashed from the tip of Behemoth's claw, arcing around her and striking one of her subordinates in a single heartbeat, before leaving only the smell of ozone. She flew in close, slamming her hands into his face, driving him back, throwing him off-balance.
He struck her and drove her into the ground. His flame burned through her, the sand was turning to glass around her, burning her costume, but it didn't burn her.
But she couldn't breathe. She flew back and out of the way until she had air again. She stared at the scene that was unfolding, the heroes beating a hasty retreat as that thing advanced, slow and implacable.
"Shit," Hero's voice came over the communications channel.
"What?" she responded. Legend was pelting the thing with lasers that could have burned buildings to the ground, and he was barely leaving a mark. Eidolon was manipulating the sand, creating barriers while simultaneously drawing sand out from beneath their enemy, while pelting it with laser blasts that he spat from his mouth.
At least he's too slow to dodge or get out of the way of trouble.
"Guys back home say we're close to some major oil fields."
She shook herself free of glass and dirt and threw herself back into the fray. A bad situation was suddenly critical. The creature roared again, and the force of the noise threw her flight off course. Eidolon's makeshift walls collapsed and more heroes fell, bleeding from heavy internal damage.
They'd been right after all. Dumb luck had created a parahuman as dangerous as what the Doctor could create by design.

Alright, so this is Behemoth, the most powerful Endbringer. The only Endbringer able to bypass the Manton effect, using fire and lighting to kill heroes. Now I understand why he was considered by Legend a powerhouse. He's the powerhouse of Endbringers, while Leviathan is the battle-strategist one and Simurgh is the most intelligent one- her intelligence being almost close to a human intelligence, looks like. RIP Kaveh

. Alexandria is truly invincible, not even this OP monster was able to hurt her. She doesn't even feel pain anymore, but she still isn't powerful enough to hurt Behemoth. At least she's trying her best to distract his attention so he won't kill another hero. You know what? I still think that Endbringers were created by a parahuman. They seem too primitive in their intelligence to be aliens- aliens are usually very smart- besides, they're very powerful, yes, but they have limited powers. If you compare them with Scion, you'll see how many powers Scion have compared with Endbringers. If they're aliens from the same species as Scion, they should have similar powers with him, right? Yet, they have a certain set of powers- each of them- pointing to the idea that a Tinker or a very powerful reality bender parahuman created them, with the purpose of letting them destroy the humanity or their creator just lost their control over his/her creations. This is my theory about Endbringers. Or maybe they just belong to a different species of aliens and I'm thinking way too deep for my own sake.

Fire, sonic, lightning. And he hit me harder than he should have, even being as big as he is. Kinetic energy, too.

Her eyes widened. Not individual powers. Those were all the same power. She pressed one hand to her ear, opening communications to the rest of her team.
"He's a dynakinetic! He manipulates energy! No Manton limitation!"
How do we even fight something like that?
But she knew they didn't have a choice. She threw herself back into the thick of the fight.
January 18th, 1993
"I, Alexandria, do solemnly affirm that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the director appointed over me, according to the regulations of the PRTCJ."
Applause swelled around her. As far as the eye could see, there were crowds and flashing cameras. President Griffin extended a hand and she shook it.
He leaned close, "You do us proud."
"Thank you, James. I'll give my all."
He squeezed her hand and moved on.
"I, Eidolon, do solemnly affirm…"
She gazed over the crowd, saw her mother standing there with eyes glistening. The lesser members of the Protectorate were in the front row as well, her subordinates among them.
Turning further right, she saw Hero looking at her, almost accusatory. She turned and faced the crowd. Regal, unflinching, dressed in an updated costume.
"Ladies and Gentlemen," the Vice President spoke into the microphone, "Let me introduce the founding members of the Protectorate of the United States of America!"
Invincible as she might be, she thought her heart might burst as it swelled with pride, the crowd cheering with such force that the stage shook.

And so the new life of Alexandria began. She seems so proud of what she did so far, so prideful, happy and hopeful...While I'm standing here, feeling sorry for this idealistic young woman, because she still have no idea what her future might be while working for Cauldron

. One if, one day, Doctor Mother will ask her to kill some people that Cauldron consider them to be dangerous for the organisation? And what if these people will not be so dangerous as Doctor Mother will claim to be, just some individuals who got sick and tired of working for Cauldron or who discovered- accidentally- some of Cauldron's secrets. I wonder if Alexandria will be able to KILL non-criminals elements in the name of Cauldron. I wonder what she's going to say about Manton losing his minds and Doctor Mother not letting her to kill him? I wonder if her idealism will still exist or will be replaced by an entirely moral corruption. How fast will be her free fall? Hero was looking accusatory at her. Maybe he's thinking the same thing I'm thinking about her, about her...THEIR future in Cauldron?

September 15th, 2000

Alexandria and Hero were last to arrive on the scene, entering through the window. Legend pressed one finger to his lips.
"We've got her cornered?" Hero whispered.
"Think so," Legend replied, his voice as quiet. "We've got teams covering the drainage and plumbing below the building, and the entire place is surrounded."
"She hasn't tried to leave?" Hero asked. "Why not?"
Legend couldn't maintain eye contact. "She has a victim."
Alexandria spoke, stabbing one finger in Legend's direction, "You had better be fucking kidding me, or I swear-"
"Stop, Alexandria. It was the only way to guarantee she'd stay put. If we moved too soon, she'd run, and it would be a matter of time before she racked up a body count elsewhere."
I'm in this to save lives. Sacrificing someone for the sake of the plan? She knew it made sense, that it was even necessary, but it left her shaken, a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach.
"Then let's move," she responded, "The sooner the better."
"We're trying an experimental measure," Legend spoke, "It's meant to contain, not kill. Drive her towards main street. We have more trucks over there."
They operated with a practiced ease. Legend blasted down the door and Alexandria was the first through.
Siberian was there, kneeling on the bed, her body marked with stripes of jet black and alabaster white, her arms slick with blood up to the elbows. The man who lay on the bed – there would be no saving him, even if Eidolon manifested healing abilities.
She looks familiar, Alexandria thought, even as she soared across the room.
They'd underestimated their opponent. Alexandria's fists collided with Siberian and didn't budge a hair. She flew out of the way before Siberian could claw at her with long fingernails.
Legend fired beam after beam at Siberian, but the striped woman didn't even flinch. She was invincible on a level that surpassed even Alexandria.
Eidolon cast out a cluster of crystal that exploded into a formation around Siberian on impact, encasing her.
Siberian shrugged it off like it was nothing, lunged forward, going after Hero.
Alexandria dove to intervene, to guard her teammate, but Siberian was faster. She reached Hero first, her hands plunging through his chest cavity. When she pulled her arms free, she nearly bisected him.
Eidolon screamed, flying close to scoop up the two pieces of Hero, carrying them outside.
Siberian leaped after them, missed only because Legend shot his comrades with a laser to alter their trajectory.
Their enemy plunged to the street, landing on both feet as though she were light as a feather.
The ensuing moments were frantic, filled with screamed orders and raw terror. Alexandria chased Siberian to try to scoop bystanders out of the way, to catch the PRT vehicles that Siberian flung like wiffle balls.
And they were losing. Eidolon was trying to heal Hero, to teleport people out of danger when Alexandria and Legend proved unable, and changing up his abilities every few seconds to throw something new at Siberian in the hopes that something would affect her. She waded through zones of altered time, through lightning storms and force fields, tore through barricades of living wood and slapped aside a projectile so hyperdense that its gravitational field pulled cars behind it.
Alexandria moved in close, hoping to stop Siberian, to catch her and slow her down, saw Siberian swing, pulled back out of the way.
Her visor fell free, clattering to the ground. Then she felt the blood.
Saw, in her one remaining good eye, the chunks of her own face that were falling to the ground around her, bouncing off her right breast, the spray of blood.
It had been so long since she'd felt pain.
Legend called out the order and buried her in containment foam, hiding her from sight.
September 16th, 2000
Alexandria sat in the hospital. Eidolon's healing had only been able to do so much. She held a glass eye in one hand, the remains of her other eye in the other.
She looked up at the Doctor. "William Manton?"
The Doctor nodded.
"How? Why?"
"I don't know what predicated it. His daughter's in our custody. One of our failures."
"He gave his daughter the formula? Without the usual preparations and procedures?"
"I suppose he thought he was qualified to oversee all that. Despite my strict instructions that staff weren't to partake. Or he had other motivations. It could have been a gift from a father trying to buy his daughter's affections."
"Or her forgiveness," Alexandria looked down at the glass eye, then back up to the Doctor.
The Doctor's eyebrows were raised in uncharacteristic surprise. "Did you see anything suspect?"
"No. I only met his daughter twice, and it was brief, her father wasn't around. But I know the divorce between Professor Manton and his wife was pretty bad, as those things go. He was angry, maybe did some things he regretted?"
The Doctor sighed.
"So that was him?"
"Almost certainly. He gave his daughter one of our higher quality formulas, and she couldn't handle it. When he realized what he'd done, realized that he couldn't hide it from us, he took one formula for himself and fled. I didn't know what it had done for him until tonight. The resemblance between Siberian and Manton's daughter is subtle, but it's there, and the footage from Hero's helmet-camera has been run through every facial recognition program I could find."

Manton was SCREWED UP inside his mind even before he became a parahuman and a S9 member

. I'm convinced that he was abusive towards his wife and his daughter, this must be the reason for the ugly divorce and his daughter not being emotional attached by him anymore (given that he tried to buy her affection with a formula). When he realized that he probably destroyed his daughter with his terrible idea, he turned into a fucking crazy cannibalistic parahuman, killing Hero and letting Alexandria blind by an eye. Something of an impressive feat because not even Behemoth was able to hurt her. Manton is one of the sicked super-villains, he ruined everyone he touched. Poor daughter of his. I have a weird theory about her. What if she is....Bonesaw? This explains the emotional connection between him through Siberian and Bonesaw. She actually got her power right but she went nuts then ran away with her father, both of them being recruited by Jack. Yep, Bonesaw must be his daughter and he's using Siberian to hold her in her arms and take good care of her because he can't do this himself- he's too ashamed of what he did to his daughter that he can't bring himself to touch her personally

. And when Bonesaw said that she wants a family, she was referring at her father who can't be close to her in person and her mother who ran away from her family. Ok, if this theory is true, I feel a bit of pity for this little monster

. Plus the fact that Siberian resembles his daughter...maybe this insane man imagined how his daughter will look like as an adult.

"What did Legend, Eidolon and…" Alexandria stopped when she realized that she'd been about to say Hero. "What did they say? About Manton?"

"They don't know. I suppose we should tell Eidolon. He reacted badly when his powers informed him of our other plans and projects."
Alexandria hung her head. "How do we stop him? Manton? If he's transformed into that…"
"The sample he took, F-one-six-one-one, it tends to give projection powers. I suspect his real body is unchanged. But I'm wondering if we shouldn't leave him be."
Alexandria stared at the doctor, wide-eyed. "Why?"
"So long as he's active, people will be flocking to join the Protectorate-"
Alexandria slammed her hand on the stainless steel table beside her cot.
Silence rang between them in the wake of the destruction.
"I will not condone the loss of life for your ulterior motives. I will not let monsters walk free, to profit from the fear they spread."

I swear that I had the same reaction as Alexandria, in the same time while reading about her reaction. I slammed my hand on my desk, screaming at the screen, while my poor car jumped from her sweet sleep (I feel so ba now for my reaction because I scared her)

(. Doctor Mother is such an repulsive character for letting a MURDERBEAST like Manton to escape, only because her twisted and depraved mind thinks that people will join Protectorate if someone like Siberian exists. On the contrary, you bitch with some of the most stupid ideas I've read about in this story, people will run away from any idea of becoming heroes if an invincible villain like Siberian will start massacring them. Nobody will be crazy enough to risk their life to stop an unstoppable monster. With Endbringers is something different because they're trying to destroy a whole city, while Siberian isn't interested to destroy a city and nobody will be willing enough to stop the most powerful non-Endbringer villain in the world to eat more people. Remember how Kid Win fought against Leviathan but his mother didn't let him to fight against S9 as well? Maybe she knew what she was doing by stopping her son for getting effetively destroyed by either Bonesaw or Siberian. Besides, Siberian will HELP Jack in the future. Jack can't be killed 70% thanks to Siberian and 30% thanks to Bonesaw. Jack wants to destroy the world. If this Doctor believes that she can save the world by letting Manton alive and free while Manton will actively help the Destroyer of the World, then I don't know if I have to cry or to laugh or both at the same time. Indirectly, Doctor Mother will help Jack to destroy the world, even if her main purpose is to save the world. WHERE THE FUCK IS YOUR LOGIC? :anger:

Fucking kill Manton so after a couple of years you'll eliminate a huge protector for Jack then you'll have Jack killed in no time, even before he'll start whatever he'll have to do to finish the world and...voila...you just saved the world. Don't tell me that Doctor doesn't have precogs who didn't warned her about Manton becoming part of S9 in the future. She have plenty of parahumans working for her. Dinah can't be the only precog in the world. Besides, since she's so busy about the end of the world scenario, then Doctor Mother should know almost everything that may or may not happen in the future.

"You're right," the Doctor said. "I… must be more shaken by Manton's betrayal than I'd thought. Forget I said anything."

If Alexandria saw a hint of falsehood in the Doctor's body language, she convinced herself it was the strain of one eye compensating for the job she'd used to perform with two.
"You realize what this means, don't you?" The Doctor asked.
"That we're no longer doing more good than evil?" Alexandria replied, bitter.
"No. I still feel we're working for the forces of good. Manton was a selfish man, unhinged. The exception to the rule."
Alexandria couldn't quite bring her to believe it.
"No, this means we simply need to step up our plans. If we're going to go forward with the Terminus project, we need to advance the overall efforts with Cauldron. And we need the Protectorate effort to succeed on every count."
"Or we need your project to work out," Alexandria replied.
The Doctor frowned. "Or that. We still have to find the right individual. Or make him."

"That we're no longer doing more good than evil?" - Alexandria, these are the words of Wisdom. I fully agree with you. You're doing more evil than good. Actually, I didn't saw too much good so far. Instead, I saw plenty of evil. I think that Terminus project means: blowing up the Earth if Doctor Mother's "ingenuous" plans of "saving" the world will fail- in this way Cauldron will make sure that people will suffer a faster death than what is already prepared for them OR a less believable solution- using Doormaker to teleport billions of people on an empty earth. Why this solution is less believable than the suicidal one? Because, unless Doormaker can open more "doors" in different parts of the world at the same time, he can't teleport billions and billions of people using a single portal. A part of those people will be panicked and become violent, another part will refuse to abandon their home planet, assuming all the risks and nobody can't gather so many people in the same place. I think Cauldron are actually planning to destroy the earth themselves if everything else will fail. This is the actual meaning of Terminus. A final goal, a finishing point.

April 10th, 2008

Mortars, bombs and air-to-ground missiles rained down around her. It had been a decade and a half since she had really felt pain, and she still couldn't help but flinch as they struck ground in her immediate vicinity. Still, she continued walking, her cape and hair fluttering behind her.
Two people lay face-down on the edge of the street, a teenage boy and girl holding hands. She knelt and checked their pulses. Dead.
But she could see others. She quickly strode over and kneeled by a young man. His stomach was a bloody mess, and he was gasping for every breath.
"To gustaria livir?" She asked, in the local's anglo-spanish pidgin. Do you want to live?
His eyes widened as he seemed to realize she was there. "Eres an gwarra engel?"
"No," she replied. She brushed his hair out of his face with one hand. "No an engel." Not an angel.
"Livir," he breathed the word before slumping over.
She swept him up in her arms, quickly and carefully. Keeping an eye out for any falling mortars, she quickly ascended into the air.
She was at the cloud-level when the door opened. She stepped into the brightly lit corridors of Cauldron's testing laboratory and strode down to the cells.
Thirty cells, filled with subjects. Thirty-one now. The cells didn't appear to have doors, but the individuals within were all too aware of the dangers of stepping beyond the perimeters of their cells, or of trying to harass Alexandria as she strode by.
Only two-thirds of them were monstrous, affected by the formulas. Others would go free with alterations to their memories. Some would have fatal weaknesses inserted into their psyches, reason to hesitate at a crucial moment against a certain foe.
But they would be alive. That was the most important thing. They had been destined to die, in places where the wars never stopped, or where plague was rampant, rescued from the brink of death.
Entering one cell, she brushed the hair from the young man's face once more, then propped him up while she administered the sample the Doctor had left for her.
She stepped back while he convulsed, his wounds filling in, his breathing growing steady enough for him to scream.
His eyes opened, and he stared at her, wide-eyed, still screaming as sensations returned to him and pain overwhelmed every sense.
"Eres okay," she said, in his language. "Eres livo."
It's okay. You're alive. She forced herself to smile as reassuringly as she could.
So long as they lived, they could have hope. Living was the most important thing.
And here I am, administering poison with a smile on my face.
She turned and walked away.

Alexandria just "saved" a spanish your man from a country ravaged by war, by giving him to formula with powers. He's alive now, but with what price? He either turned into another monster finding his place in Doctor Mother's collection or he lost his minds.

Of course nobody will dare to escape as long as Alexandria, Contessa and other guard dogs are there. They just sit there and accept their fate, being as happy as they can that at least they're alive. I'm glad Alexandria saves lives, in a way or another, but I still feel sorry because the survivors will never have their normal lives back. They're were taken away from death and brought in their personal hell.

June 18th, 2011

"…I guess we have another unanswered question on our hands," Eidolon said.
Legend sighed, "More than one. William Manton and his link to Siberian, the tattoo on his right hand, our end of the world scenario and the role Jack plays as the catalyst. Too many to count."
"None of this has to be addressed today," Alexandria said. "Why don't you go home? We'll consider the situation and come up with a plan and some likely explanations."
Legend nodded. A small smile touched his lips.
The Doctor turned to Eidolon, "You want another booster shot?"
"Probably another Endbringer attack coming up, it's best if I'm in top form."
"A month or two, either Simurgh or Behemoth if they stick to pattern," Alexandria said. She watched as Legend strode out of the room. Eidolon paused, then gave the hand signal. No bugs, and Legend wasn't listening in.
The Doctor already had the booster shot ready. Eidolon extended one arm, clutching his bicep to help make the vein more pronounced. The doctor injected.
"The boosters aren't cutting it anymore," Eidolon said. "I'm getting weaker. Powers are taking longer to reach their peak, and their maximum strength isn't what it used to be. If this keeps up, then I won't be able to offer anything during this end-of-the-world scenario."
"We'll find a solution," the Doctor said.
"You were too calm," Eidolon spoke. "I was worried you'd miss my warning."
"Very clever, burning the words into the paper in front of me. Thank you. Was I convincing?"
"You managed to feign skepticism over this apocalypse scenario," Alexandria spoke.
"Well, that's the most important thing," the Doctor spoke.
"He's suspicious. He knows or suspects we've been lying to him," Alexandria said.
"Unfortunate. Will he expose us?"
Alexandria shook her head. "No. I don't think he will. But he may distance himself from us to lower the number of opportunities we have to see his doubt for what it is."

Eidolon is heroic just like Alexandria. He wants to be strong enough to keep fighting as long as is necessary to save the world. He's afraid that he will stop being powerful and he'll fail in his duty. But he still lost his soul to Doctor Mother and her wrong ways to save the world and I feel sorry for him too. Alexandria and Doctor Mother know that Legend know about their lies and he's too honest and heroic compared even with Alexandria and Eidolon to accept to follow Doctor Mother's plans, especially since they're not ethical and violate the basic human rights. But he won't tell anyone about what he knows about them. Because Legend will never risk to expose the public to the misery behind Triumvirate's perfection. He will never risk to have people starting to hate the heroes. He's a wise young man and if he'll do something, I think he'll try to take Cauldron down, without too much agitation.

"We'll manage," the Doctor replied. "In the worst case scenario, we'll explain the circumstances, explain our plan."

"He won't like it," Eidolon spoke.
"But he'll understand," the Doctor said. "If the Terminus project is a success, the end of the world isn't a concern. And I believe we will succeed."
"Provided we come up with a solution to the bigger, more basic problems we're facing," Eidolon said. "Or we'll simply find ourselves in the same circumstances after we've gone to all this trouble."
Alexandria nodded. "The Protectorate is proving to be a failure on that front. Recent events haven't given me much hope in that regard."
"So that leaves only my end of things," the Doctor said.
"Coil," Eidolon said. "And if he fails?"
"Ever the pessimist," Alexandria said.
"This revelation about the possible end of the world has decimated our projected timeline. We don't have time to prepare or pursue anything further," the Doctor said.
"If we assist him-"
"No," the Doctor spoke. "If we assist him, there's no point."
"In short?" Alexandria leaned forward, resting her elbows on the table. "He doesn't even know it, but everything rests on his shoulders."

ALL HAIL TO THE SNAKE KING, THE SUPREME SAVIOR OF THE MANKIND!!!

lol OMG, OMG, if Coil is the only one (apart from Terminus project) capable to save the world, then EVERYONE IS FUCKING DOOMED.

I'd rather prefer to see the whole world burning than Coil trying to save it. Not that he would care anyway, he cares only to become Brockton Bay's dictator, he already knows about Jack's plan, yet he didn't do anything to try to stop him, instead he told his people to leave everything behind and rather run away than to confront S9. He'll never accept to go out of his way for the sake of other people who are not him. Maybe if Doctor Mother will threaten him to take his powers or to kill him if they can't convince him otherwise? But not, Coil will rather bury the world and anyone who opposite him than do a single good thing in his damn life, no matter what. Now I'm afraid that Alexandria will stop Skitter from eliminating/killing Coil if she'll ever find about Skitter and Undersiders' plan involving Cauldron's Chosen One. And I doubt that Skitter will stand a chance against someone who managed to confront Behemoth and Siberian and survive and wrestle Leviathan. Alexandria will destroy her without breaking a sweat. Yes, Skitter must get rid of Coil and fuck with what Cauldron wants, but I'm afraid of what Alexandria is ready to do to protect the woman who gave her hope and a new life and her plans.

Btw, I noticed in the tags section Newter's name. Since he didn't appeared anywhere as "Newter", I suppose that he's the dying young man who was saved by Alexandria at the price of getting turned into a monster. Poor Newter. At least, he didn't had too bad in transformation's terms. He looks a bit different and he can't touch someone without drugging them but he's better than other "monsters". It could have been worse. He was pretty lucky in the end. But still, poor Newter.

Good night and sleep well, my friends.

ExNihilo · Aug 7, 2018

blackarrow said:
Shatterbird, Sundancer, Laserdream, Fleur, Glaistig Uaine

Those are all good choices. I'm personally a fan of nobility names, like Contessa and Marquis, and the truly spectacular, like Hero and Legend. My least favorite is Vista, probably, neat name but not particularly thematic IMO, but I also don't like Skitter much.
-I think Hero's was particularly a good choice, not only was it bold, it was also referencing the legendary engineer Hero/Heron (it's been translated both ways) of Alexandria.

Out of curiosity, if you had the choice, what would your ideal power and name be? I'd personally choose Tinker and a name in honor of Hero, like Theon, or a Thinker of the information/organisation sort with a name like Hierophant.

blackarrow · Aug 7, 2018

rafuki22 said:
Angry? I? My fury is like a volcano, explosive and violent, but short.
Whatever you say, there are people who do evil for the right reasons, and no opinion will change that.
The best vigilantes become what they kill, or die alone.
...Depending on the hypothetical powers that we have, I would try to help you in your crusade, as a team, although we could also be only allies,or rivals,or enemies...Who knows?
PS:CUTE¡?¡?

Ok, you made me curious. How do you react when you're so angry? Do you beat people up? Scream at them? Throw a tantrum? I don't get angry often (when I don't read something like Worm, of course

) but when I do, I become an explosive walking bomb for people around me, unfortunately. I don't react too well at anger. Anyway, I still think you're kind of cute

and we'd make a good team, most like allies rather than enemies. Even if you'll not help me, I'll help you and pull your chestnuts out of fire anytime.

Birdsie · Aug 7, 2018

I wanted to tell you this because I'm astonished by my own genius; I just found an amazing challenge for myself. I will take a shot of vodka whenever you write the word 'saved' in quotation marks or write positive words in quotation marks in the same sentence as the words 'Doctor' and 'Mother.'

Now each Cauldron interlude will end with some funsies.

rafuki22 · Aug 7, 2018

blackarrow said:
Hello, my people. Welcome to the second part of this wonderful Cauldron Interlude. Before I'll start, I want to talk a bit about CODENAMES. Yep, codenames that parahumans- more or less inspired, choose for themselves. There are 3 categories of codenames that make me wonder: what the hell was in these parahumans' minds when they decided to choose a certain codename, despite not being very inspired, or being straight up awful or disgraceful. First category: GENDERED CODENAMES. People who must add their gender to their codename because otherwise nobody else can't tell if they're men or women . Let's see: MANPower, GloryGIRL, Doctor MOTHER, AllFATHER (the deceased leader of the nazis and Theo's grandfather, if I'm not wrong), LADY Photon, MISS Militia, KID Win, Number MAN. We need a GAL, BOY, FEMME, DAME, DAMSEL, GUY, MISTER so the list will be complete . Knowing Worm, I won't be surprised to see new characters being so "inspired" use gendered codenames. Otherwise, we can't tell what they're. I'm still waiting for a non-binary character using their own codenames. That would be far more original that the shitty gendered codenames.
Second category: NOBLE CODENAMES. Usually arrogant parahumans are using these codenames, or someone who doesn't have much imagination. Someone like REGENT, MARQUIS, KAISER, CONTESSA. We're still missing King, Queen, Count, Prince, Princess, Duke, Baron, a few more noble codenames so the list will be complete. Cauldron, with codenames like Doctor Mother, Contessa, Number Man, are not inspired at all when it comes to re-name themselves. The only exception so far (except for Triumvirate and other Cauldron heroes) is Doormaker, pretty cool codename .
Third category: MERCHANTS CODENAMES. These para-rats are dead now but their codenames are still bugging the hell out of me when I remember them rofl:. Also, let's not forget Scrub, who is still alive. And whose codename is fucking SCRUB. Again, S9 did a good service to the whole world when they wiped out these rats. Bitch is also a not so very inspired codename .
Codenames I find ridiculous, but funny: Armsmaster, Clockblocker, Gregor the Snail and Number Man (despire disliking this gendered codename, it's kind of funny). rofl:
Codenames I like, finding them quite original and inspired: Skitter, Tattletale, Vista, Bonesaw, Spitfire, Genesis, Trickster, Imp, Legend, Alexandria, Panacea, Brandish, Dragon, Parian, Bakuda, Burnscar.
My favorite codenames (also the most poetic ones): Shatterbird, Sundancer, Laserdream, Fleur, Glaistig Uaine.
Ok, enough with codenames, you got the whole idea behind, let's start this second parthttps://parahumans.wordpress.com/2012/11/08/interlude-15-donation-bonus-3/

Alexandria starts to consider Doctor Mother her family, seeing her as the right one to replace her real family, especially since she gave her the powers that cured her cancer, she seems so "nice" and "friendly" with her, she helped her becoming more confident in her own strength, and she basically gave her a new life. Alexandria doesn't want to return to her natural family because she doesn't want to experience those feelings of despair and loss that she experienced in their company when she was sick. She wants to be happy in her own little world, with the person who helped her more than anyone in the world, despite still having a feeling that her new life is not really perfect.

Alright, so this is Behemoth, the most powerful Endbringer. The only Endbringer able to bypass the Manton effect, using fire and lighting to kill heroes. Now I understand why he was considered by Legend a powerhouse. He's the powerhouse of Endbringers, while Leviathan is the battle-strategist one and Simurgh is the most intelligent one- her intelligence being almost close to a human intelligence, looks like. RIP Kaveh . Alexandria is truly invincible, not even this OP monster was able to hurt her. She doesn't even feel pain anymore, but she still isn't powerful enough to hurt Behemoth. At least she's trying her best to distract his attention so he won't kill another hero. You know what? I still think that Endbringers were created by a parahuman. They seem too primitive in their intelligence to be aliens- aliens are usually very smart- besides, they're very powerful, yes, but they have limited powers. If you compare them with Scion, you'll see how many powers Scion have compared with Endbringers. If they're aliens from the same species as Scion, they should have similar powers with him, right? Yet, they have a certain set of powers- each of them- pointing to the idea that a Tinker or a very powerful reality bender parahuman created them, with the purpose of letting them destroy the humanity or their creator just lost their control over his/her creations. This is my theory about Endbringers. Or maybe they just belong to a different species of aliens and I'm thinking way too deep for my own sake.

And so the new life of Alexandria began. She seems so proud of what she did so far, so prideful, happy and hopeful...While I'm standing here, feeling sorry for this idealistic young woman, because she still have no idea what her future might be while working for Cauldron . One if, one day, Doctor Mother will ask her to kill some people that Cauldron consider them to be dangerous for the organisation? And what if these people will not be so dangerous as Doctor Mother will claim to be, just some individuals who got sick and tired of working for Cauldron or who discovered- accidentally- some of Cauldron's secrets. I wonder if Alexandria will be able to KILL non-criminals elements in the name of Cauldron. I wonder what she's going to say about Manton losing his minds and Doctor Mother not letting her to kill him? I wonder if her idealism will still exist or will be replaced by an entirely moral corruption. How fast will be her free fall? Hero was looking accusatory at her. Maybe he's thinking the same thing I'm thinking about her, about her...THEIR future in Cauldron?

Manton was SCREWED UP inside his mind even before he became a parahuman and a S9 member . I'm convinced that he was abusive towards his wife and his daughter, this must be the reason for the ugly divorce and his daughter not being emotional attached by him anymore (given that he tried to buy her affection with a formula). When he realized that he probably destroyed his daughter with his terrible idea, he turned into a fucking crazy cannibalistic parahuman, killing Hero and letting Alexandria blind by an eye. Something of an impressive feat because not even Behemoth was able to hurt her. Manton is one of the sicked super-villains, he ruined everyone he touched. Poor daughter of his. I have a weird theory about her. What if she is....Bonesaw? This explains the emotional connection between him through Siberian and Bonesaw. She actually got her power right but she went nuts then ran away with her father, both of them being recruited by Jack. Yep, Bonesaw must be his daughter and he's using Siberian to hold her in her arms and take good care of her because he can't do this himself- he's too ashamed of what he did to his daughter that he can't bring himself to touch her personally . And when Bonesaw said that she wants a family, she was referring at her father who can't be close to her in person and her mother who ran away from her family. Ok, if this theory is true, I feel a bit of pity for this little monster . Plus the fact that Siberian resembles his daughter...maybe this insane man imagined how his daughter will look like as an adult.

I swear that I had the same reaction as Alexandria, in the same time while reading about her reaction. I slammed my hand on my desk, screaming at the screen, while my poor car jumped from her sweet sleep (I feel so ba now for my reaction because I scared her) (. Doctor Mother is such an repulsive character for letting a MURDERBEAST like Manton to escape, only because her twisted and depraved mind thinks that people will join Protectorate if someone like Siberian exists. On the contrary, you bitch with some of the most stupid ideas I've read about in this story, people will run away from any idea of becoming heroes if an invincible villain like Siberian will start massacring them. Nobody will be crazy enough to risk their life to stop an unstoppable monster. With Endbringers is something different because they're trying to destroy a whole city, while Siberian isn't interested to destroy a city and nobody will be willing enough to stop the most powerful non-Endbringer villain in the world to eat more people. Remember how Kid Win fought against Leviathan but his mother didn't let him to fight against S9 as well? Maybe she knew what she was doing by stopping her son for getting effetively destroyed by either Bonesaw or Siberian. Besides, Siberian will HELP Jack in the future. Jack can't be killed 70% thanks to Siberian and 30% thanks to Bonesaw. Jack wants to destroy the world. If this Doctor believes that she can save the world by letting Manton alive and free while Manton will actively help the Destroyer of the World, then I don't know if I have to cry or to laugh or both at the same time. Indirectly, Doctor Mother will help Jack to destroy the world, even if her main purpose is to save the world. WHERE THE FUCK IS YOUR LOGIC? Fucking kill Manton so after a couple of years you'll eliminate a huge protector for Jack then you'll have Jack killed in no time, even before he'll start whatever he'll have to do to finish the world and...voila...you just saved the world. Don't tell me that Doctor doesn't have precogs who didn't warned her about Manton becoming part of S9 in the future. She have plenty of parahumans working for her. Dinah can't be the only precog in the world. Besides, since she's so busy about the end of the world scenario, then Doctor Mother should know almost everything that may or may not happen in the future.

"That we're no longer doing more good than evil?" - Alexandria, these are the words of Wisdom. I fully agree with you. You're doing more evil than good. Actually, I didn't saw too much good so far. Instead, I saw plenty of evil. I think that Terminus project means: blowing up the Earth if Doctor Mother's "ingenuous" plans of "saving" the world will fail- in this way Cauldron will make sure that people will suffer a faster death than what is already prepared for them OR a less believable solution- using Doormaker to teleport billions of people on an empty earth. Why this solution is less believable than the suicidal one? Because, unless Doormaker can open more "doors" in different parts of the world at the same time, he can't teleport billions and billions of people using a single portal. A part of those people will be panicked and become violent, another part will refuse to abandon their home planet, assuming all the risks and nobody can't gather so many people in the same place. I think Cauldron are actually planning to destroy the earth themselves if everything else will fail. This is the actual meaning of Terminus. A final goal, a finishing point.

Alexandria just "saved" a spanish your man from a country ravaged by war, by giving him to formula with powers. He's alive now, but with what price? He either turned into another monster finding his place in Doctor Mother's collection or he lost his minds. Of course nobody will dare to escape as long as Alexandria, Contessa and other guard dogs are there. They just sit there and accept their fate, being as happy as they can that at least they're alive. I'm glad Alexandria saves lives, in a way or another, but I still feel sorry because the survivors will never have their normal lives back. They're were taken away from death and brought in their personal hell.

Eidolon is heroic just like Alexandria. He wants to be strong enough to keep fighting as long as is necessary to save the world. He's afraid that he will stop being powerful and he'll fail in his duty. But he still lost his soul to Doctor Mother and her wrong ways to save the world and I feel sorry for him too. Alexandria and Doctor Mother know that Legend know about their lies and he's too honest and heroic compared even with Alexandria and Eidolon to accept to follow Doctor Mother's plans, especially since they're not ethical and violate the basic human rights. But he won't tell anyone about what he knows about them. Because Legend will never risk to expose the public to the misery behind Triumvirate's perfection. He will never risk to have people starting to hate the heroes. He's a wise young man and if he'll do something, I think he'll try to take Cauldron down, without too much agitation.

ALL HAIL TO THE SNAKE KING, THE SUPREME SAVIOR OF THE MANKIND!!!lol OMG, OMG, if Coil is the only one (apart from Terminus project) capable to save the world, then EVERYONE IS FUCKING DOOMED. I'd rather prefer to see the whole world burning than Coil trying to save it. Not that he would care anyway, he cares only to become Brockton Bay's dictator, he already knows about Jack's plan, yet he didn't do anything to try to stop him, instead he told his people to leave everything behind and rather run away than to confront S9. He'll never accept to go out of his way for the sake of other people who are not him. Maybe if Doctor Mother will threaten him to take his powers or to kill him if they can't convince him otherwise? But not, Coil will rather bury the world and anyone who opposite him than do a single good thing in his damn life, no matter what. Now I'm afraid that Alexandria will stop Skitter from eliminating/killing Coil if she'll ever find about Skitter and Undersiders' plan involving Cauldron's Chosen One. And I doubt that Skitter will stand a chance against someone who managed to confront Behemoth and Siberian and survive and wrestle Leviathan. Alexandria will destroy her without breaking a sweat. Yes, Skitter must get rid of Coil and fuck with what Cauldron wants, but I'm afraid of what Alexandria is ready to do to protect the woman who gave her hope and a new life and her plans.
Btw, I noticed in the tags section Newter's name. Since he didn't appeared anywhere as "Newter", I suppose that he's the dying young man who was saved by Alexandria at the price of getting turned into a monster. Poor Newter. At least, he didn't had too bad in transformation's terms. He looks a bit different and he can't touch someone without drugging them but he's better than other "monsters". It could have been worse. He was pretty lucky in the end. But still, poor Newter.

Good night and sleep well, my friends.

blackarrow said:
Ok, you made me curious. How do you react when you're so angry? Do you beat people up? Scream at them? Throw a tantrum? I don't get angry often (when I don't read something like Worm, of course ) but when I do, I become an explosive walking bomb for people around me, unfortunately. I don't react too well at anger. Anyway, I still think you're kind of cute and we'd make a good team, most like allies rather than enemies. Even if you'll not help me, I'll help you and pull your chestnuts out of fire anytime.

Umf, as you say, the cuteness is subjective.
I would not know how to describe my moments of anger, I have not been angry at that level for a long time.
Your opinion is appreciated, but I do not think we make a good team (I would be the one who would save you, of course,depending on the circumstances, powers, etc ...)
And by the way, about the chapter ... HAHAHAHAHAHAHA¡¡¡¡¡

Vegetalss4 · Aug 7, 2018

So a couple of random comments:
1) Kid is gender neutral in english, it just means child, so Kid Win doesn't contain any references to his gender.
2) Coil did a bunch of stuff to try to stop Jack. remember all the stuff he gave the Undersiders/Travelers for their attempts, including giving them safe spaces to hold shatterbird and Cherish? The don't fight order was back before they made a plan and was obviously retracted once they did. Also remember how he revealed the prophecy to the protectorate and the other villains even through it placed him in a weaker position, and how he tried to play ball with their plan?
Yeah he didn't run out with a gun to personally try to shot Jack, but that isn't how his power works, and in all likelihood he used it to give them 2 chances to kill him in each confrontation given how he made a small input in each planning session (through if some of the undersiders had died in a universe where they also killed Jack I bet he would have sacrificed them for that victory).
3) Number Man is the best name ever, hands down

4) I also like noble titles as superhero names.

Nobody · Aug 7, 2018

blackarrow said:
Alexandria just "saved" a spanish your man from a country ravaged by war, by giving him to formula with powers. He's alive now, but with what price? He either turned into another monster finding his place in Doctor Mother's collection or he lost his minds.

IIRC the character tags for the chapter imply that that was Newter.

Vayhle · Aug 7, 2018

I like any name that fits the person and their personality. Skitter is my favorite, tattletale second.

KnownParadox · Aug 7, 2018

blackarrow said:
I'm still waiting for a non-binary character using their own codenames.

Hey, just a hint.

You've seen a gender fluid character in Worm before.

I would say more but I don't know if I should, do you want to know?

blackarrow · Aug 7, 2018

Birdsie said:
I wanted to tell you this because I'm astonished by my own genius; I just found an amazing challenge for myself. I will take a shot of vodka whenever you write the word 'saved' in quotation marks or write positive words in quotation marks in the same sentence as the words 'Doctor' and 'Mother.'

Now each Cauldron interlude will end with some funsies.

Oh, no, please, don't do THAT to you, I'm begging you. I don't want you to end in a alcoholic coma because of me. I'm gonna feel so guilty.

blackarrow · Aug 7, 2018

Nobody said:
IIRC the character tags for the chapter imply that that was Newter.

I already noticed that, thank you.

blackarrow · Aug 8, 2018

KnownParadox said:
Hey, just a hint.

You've seen a gender fluid character in Worm before.

I would say more but I don't know if I should, do you want to know?

No, please, I'll try to guess instead which one can be. I think is Oliver, the apparently non-powered Traveler. He's always described after his good looks and he's one of Noelle's's caretaker so I won't be surprised if he switches between male and female identity at times. Maybe this is the reason why he's around Noelle more than any other Traveler. Because he's probably very good at taking care of her and she trusts him with her most intimate problems, since he identifies himself as a girl at times. How far of the truth I'm?

blackarrow · Aug 8, 2018

ExNihilo said:
Those are all good choices. I'm personally a fan of nobility names, like Contessa and Marquis, and the truly spectacular, like Hero and Legend. My least favorite is Vista, probably, neat name but not particularly thematic IMO, but I also don't like Skitter much.
-I think Hero's was particularly a good choice, not only was it bold, it was also referencing the legendary engineer Hero/Heron (it's been translated both ways) of Alexandria.

Out of curiosity, if you had the choice, what would your ideal power and name be? I'd personally choose Tinker and a name in honor of Hero, like Theon, or a Thinker of the information/organisation sort with a name like Hierophant.

I never noticed the connection between Hero of Alexandria and characters like Hero and Alexandria, until you pointed out. Now I feel so dumb for not noticing.

My ideal powers would be the powers that will allow me to help as many people as possible. Amy's powers and I'll call myself Rod of Asclepius, Bonesaw's powers (her powers can be used for so many good things, unfortunately she's not interested to do good) and my codename will be Your Unusual Healer or Sphere's powers (I'll be a savior of humanity, solving more of the world's problems. The perfect powers for me. I just don't want to have his fate, of course. ESPECIALLY his fate) and I'll be called Greenhouse. Plus I'd like for me the ability to fly. Flying is one of my biggest wishes. I'll be called Flying Wonder. My favorite Classification? A Tinker, a benevolent Tinker. If I'll also be a little vigilante, giving the bad guys their comeuppance, it will be perfect.

KnownParadox · Aug 8, 2018

blackarrow said:
How far of the truth I'm?

Pretty far.

They are a villain though.

blackarrow · Aug 9, 2018

Hello, heroes, villains and rogues. Last time, there was another Cauldron Interlude. These Interludes are a HUGE PARADOX. There are some of the most interesting yet annoying Interlude at the same time. Annoying because I DON'T LIKE CAULDRON (and I'm being too politely saying this

) and Doctor Mother (I don't have anything yet against Number Man, Contessa and Doormaker since I don't know them; maybe they're not so disturbing and amoral as their boss, even if they work for her) and interesting because I learned a lot about Triumvirate's true faces, the interests of the people working for Cauldron when it comes to world's first problems, and an incredible SAD DISCOVERY: the fate of the world depends of the DEVIL himself (aka Coil), one of the most repulsive, vile, egoistical and maniacal villains :rage:

. Or this is what Doctor Mother said and fortunately not everything she said is real 100%. Yes, Coil can use his power over timelines to split them and decide in which timeline a decision to save the world is the best one and in each one another decision is the worst one and choose the timeline with the best decision (this is what I understand about how his power will actually work to save the world) and I think he'll "care" to save it because if the world will be destroyed, he'll die too (he have all the interest to save himself) but I don't think that he'll be the savior plus he have NO RIGHT to be the savior. The only right he have is to be shoot right into his head and his body thrown at Bitch's dogs :rage:

. Someone else can do this job BETTER than Coil and actually deserve this right. For example, Skitter and Dinah can make a good team if the world needs saved for real. Dinah can tell Skitter which one of her decisions will be the best one and Skitter (along with her allies) can work to find a way to stop the Armageddon. Of course, as long as Skitter will be willing 100% to listen to whatever Dinah will tell her. Because I have a feeling that Dinah will play a major role in this but only as long as she's free, not Coil's slave anymore and independent enough to make her own decisions. I'll support Dinah in whatever she'll decide, because I know that she'll be right and have the best interests in her heart (of course, with the exception if she'll ask Skitter to kill random people). But first, she must be free. And this little angel can't be free unless the snake that's holding her in his grasp will be eliminated. Let's start a new Chapter and see how Skitter will "convince" the mayor to "save" the City and how she'll escape if Trickster and Genesis will try to assassinate her during the mission

Colony 15.8

The benefit of using my swarm-clone to communicate with Parian was that I had relative privacy to talk to Coil. He picked up on the fourth ring. Not quite so prompt as Tattletale tended to be.

"Skitter."
"I know you wanted me to use Ms. Cranston instead of calling you, but this is sort of important."
"I'm listening."
"I've talked with Parian, and we've come to a tentative agreement. She'll need to talk to other people before making a decision, but I think she'd join our alliance."
"I see."
There was a long pause. I was getting ready to speak and ask if he was still there when he spoke once again.
"What are her terms?"
"She holds territory, she'll defend it against all comers, but she's not going to do jobs or do anything criminal. As far as anyone else is concerned, she's not a part of our takeover."
"The implication being that we're too weak to deal with her."
"That wasn't exactly what I had in mind."
"It's the conclusion others will come to."
I felt a swell of frustration and anger, powerful enough that I might have snapped at him if I could have come up with what to say any faster. I had to remind myself that I was anxious over the hit Coil had put on my head, and I felt betrayed. I recognized that it was stupid to feel betrayed by Coil when I was actively planning to fight him if he didn't cooperate on the Dinah front, but I also knew I didn't tend to handle it well when someone I'd trusted stabbed me in the back.
Not that I'd ever trusted Coil but…
Okay, I wasn't sure what I was thinking on that front.
I forced myself to calm down before saying, "I'm sure there's a compromise. Will you talk to her?"
"I will not risk revealing my identity, no," Coil said.
Damn him.
"But," he continued, "I will speak to her through a liason."
"Thank you."
"Though this could have been done more smoothly, I do appreciate your hard work."
This from my would-be murderer.
"It's not a problem. Ballistic might be upset if he realizes I went behind his back on this, so maybe if anyone asks, she got spooked and came to you?"
"Perhaps. I'll be discreet, in any event. It wouldn't do to have friction between your two groups."
"Right."
"Speaking of inter-group relations, I believe Trickster is preparing to leave for the mission this evening. You'll want to contact him to arrange something."
I'd been hoping to put this off. It still felt like yesterday that I was watching my back every moment, waiting for an attack from any corner. I wasn't eager to return to that state.
"Okay," I said.
He hung up without another word.

Skitter and the Snake King are talking through phone about Parian and the Mission. Skitter WRONGLY believes that Parian accept her proposition about holding a neutral territory, but Parian REFUSED her, telling her that she'll never agree to be a villain and to do something that Flechette will not agree with. She was pretty clear. I don't quite understand Skitter here. She either believes that Parian CAN convince a heroine like Flechette to remain in the City, and accept her new villainous ways or she's lying Coil, pretending that she's good and useful enough to convince anyone to join Coil's alliance, including Parian. Or the third theory, Parian to accept for real and I'll be really, really surprised if this theory will be the most plausible one. Anyway, they're getting ready for the Mission. Let's see how bad for some/how good for others it will go.

Parian first.

"I've raised the subject with others. They'll be in touch. You should talk to Flechette and decide where you stand before then."
"A lot of pressure."
I don't think you understand real pressure, I thought. But I didn't say it out loud.
"Yeah," my swarm said. The drones and buzzes that made up the syllables helped mask the lack of real sympathy. I began working to use silk strands and flying bugs to lift a cell phone into the air. I thumbed through the keypad and sent a text to Ms. Cranston to inform her about what I was doing. "I'm flying a phone to you, it'll be in your hands before you're out of my territory. Someone will use it to call you before the end of the day."
"This is you subtly telling me to leave?"
"I'm in the middle of something, yes. Thank you for hearing me out."
"It was the least I could do, after the help you've offered my friends and family."
"Whatever you decide, take care of yourself, Parian."
"You too."
I scattered the swarm, then paused to think.
The painkiller was starting to wear off, and I could feel the steady ache in my shoulder. I still had a dart sticking through the bone.
Brooks had only removed the points on either end. I could only hope the pain kept me sharp.
I'd hoped to take a break and formulate some strategy, some plan. I had a few small ideas, but they weren't broad enough to cover every base. And there were a lot of bases to cover when someone as well equipped as Coil was after me.
Fuck.
I couldn't do up all of the armor I'd removed with the one hand, so I enlisted Atlas' help in putting the armor on my injured shoulder, using his forelimbs to hold things steady.
I took a deep breath. It wasn't confirmed one-hundred percent, but I had my suspicions that Parian was on board. I didn't want to die, exactly, I was prepared to fight tooth and nail to avoid it, but at the same time I was ready to die, now.
I didn't really have friends, outside the team. My teammates would miss me, but they'd recover in time. Death was a reality in our business.
My dad hadn't heard from me in some time. If I died, well, perhaps not as great a shock as it might otherwise be. I knew it would hit him as hard as my mom's death had, that he'd be devastated… but again, he'd recover. Maybe it would be easier, because at least here he'd have someone to blame, the city, the thugs, whoever Lisa told him was at fault for my murder. I was pretty sure she wouldn't reveal my identity to him when a simpler, to-the-point explanation would do.
And my people? My territory?
I felt Parian receive the cell phone, a few blocks away, pulling it to her hand with telekinesis. From the bugs that lingered on it, I could feel it vibrate pretty violently as it moved the short distance through the air.
If I died, Parian could take over my territory. I had the feeling I could trust her to care about my people the same way I did, more than I could trust even my friends. The transition wouldn't be too difficult.
I took in another deep breath, then sighed. For Dinah. In any other circumstance, I'd back down, leave Coil's employ. But I was willing to brave this if it meant keeping her and her freedom in my reach.
I dialed Trickster.

She really believes that Parian will accept the deal, it wasn't a lie she told to Coil. Well, I'm not sure what to believe anymore but I'm still having doubt about Parian accepting so easy the deal if Flechette will say no. Next, we have Skitter dealing with her (motivated) paranoia about her imminent demise decided by Coil and she's pessimistic as always. She thinks that Undersiders and her dad will feel sorry for her but they'll recover with time. I don't agree with her. First her father will be DEVASTATED.

First his wife now his beloved daughter. He might even kill himself because he won't be able to cope with the situation with having everyone dear to him being taken away from him. Seeing how much Danny loves her, he won't survive without Taylor.

Then Brian, he'll blame himself for not protecting/saving Taylor+ he's already traumatized= his mind might completely broke without any way to be ever fixed again. Aisha (good for me to have the notes with characters' names otherwise I wouldn't remember her

lol) will blame Taylor herself for her own death and for Brian's mental destruction. Lisa will feel like she lost a good friend, probably the best one she ever had. Rachel...Rachel will lost the closest human connection she ever had in her life and will probably feel like...a dog abandoned by its human protector/friend? Yep, this is exactly how she'll feel. Alec will be the only one who'll not give a fuck about Taylor's death, emotions are strange and mysterious things for him. There are people in her territory who will cry after Taylor, Sierra and Charlotte will also be very sad, especially given how much Taylor did for them. Dinah will never be free. Taylor have to LIVE because so many people love her

, Skitter have to LIVE because so many people depends of her

.

Atlas carried me into the nice part of town, southwest of the Towers. The Christian private school wasn't far from here. Immaculata. New Wave was also based here. I kind of hoped I didn't cross paths with them. If they shared any of Flechette's opinions about me being at least partially to blame for whatever had happened with Panacea and Glory Girl, well, they'd be even less inclined to hold back.

I needed to find out the story there. Had to ask Tattletale, when I had a free moment.
The area was riddled with hills and glades, with ridiculously large houses gathered in small neighborhoods. Brockton Bay tended to zig-zag pretty drastically between the poverty-stricken areas and the wealthy. The contrast seemed even greater here where things were largely untouched by Leviathan's attack, compared to the rest of the city where streets sat under inches of water.
I didn't join Trickster and Genesis. Instead, I set Atlas down in one of the wooded glades close to my destination, glanced at my phone to ensure I'd followed directions to the right spot, and then got my laptop out to prepare. I was a little early, which meant I could afford to take the time to prepare.
The range would be lower with the trees and any buildings between me and my destination, but I was still better off using my swarm-clone as a body double. I double checked my equipment and weapons while I waited for my 'clones' to gather together.
Centipedes and bugs chained end-to-end for the hair. Larger bugs formed the bulk of the legs, torso, and the core of the head.
Smaller bugs filled the gaps, while flying insects clustering together to form the arms and the parts too unwieldy to be supported by the rest, like the face. Once the basic form was there, it was just a question of refining it so the general silhouette was right, and positioning the miniature camera and microphones so they had eyes and ears I could use.
Once they were ready, I gathered one swarm on top of Atlas and flew it to Trickster and Genesis. I walked with my swarms at my side, my laptop open and held with my good arm so I could see the video feed. As I gathered more bugs on top of my costume and in my hair to make myself resemble the clones, I used stray bugs to form similar laptops for the other clones. They didn't have glowing screens, but the generally rectangular shapes would serve for anyone looking at a distance.
If 'I' was in immediate danger, my clone on Atlas' back would take the hit. If my enemy or enemies saw through the ruse and came looking for me, they'd have to pick me apart from my clones. That meant they would have to take the time to find a telltale clue, they'd have to guess with only a one-in-four chance of hitting the real me or they'd have to spread their attacks out among each of my clones. I had the additional security of bugs filling the area, sweeping over surfaces and ledges to spot anyone who might be in place to stalk or snipe me, and my costume served as a final line of defense.
Redundancies. It didn't feel like enough.
Trickster and Genesis were waiting as Atlas descended. They were crouched with their backs to a stone wall that bordered one property at the edge of a hill.
Trickster was holding binoculars, gazing down at the neighborhood below us. Genesis was in the form of a ghostly woman wreathed with chains. Her white hair was smoky, wispy, and covered her face, and her fingers were talons. She had no lower body extending from the tattered poncho-style cloak she wore, and simply floated as though she were as light as air. How had she done that? Some basic flight mechanism? A gas balloon in her stomach?
So powerful.
"Welcome. Have a look," Trickster said. He extended one hand with the binoculars. Binoculars I couldn't use with my camera.
"Don't need them. Which property?"
He pointed. It took me a second to relate the direction his arm was pointing with the camera angle and relate that to my own position relative to my clone. I could have figured it out in an instant if I'd put a bug on his hand, but I didn't want to clue him in if I didn't have to.
The grounds of the building he was pointing to was nearly as large as the city block where I'd grown up and lived until a couple of months ago. There was a fence, but it seemed to be directed at keeping the family's dogs in rather than keeping intruders out. Chain link, no barbed wire. I knew he had dogs from the flies that were clustered on the feces in the back yard that hadn't been picked up, and the larval young that festooned each clump.
Not too many bugs inside the house. There were some in the walls, but the home seemed relatively new, and the insulation was packed tightly enough that nothing was really living in the walls.
It took me a minute, but I did manage to start a headcount.
"There's guards?"
"There's a police presence in this area. I think they're expecting trouble," Trickster said. "Anyways, the reason we're here at this time and place is that the mayor always eats dinner with his family. Tattletale says he's only missed three meals in twenty years, and that was only because he was out of town for work. His planned trip to Washington is going to be his fourth time away from home, so this is the one place we can be absolutely sure we'll cross paths with him."

Ok, the Mayor Mission will start anytime soon. I'm very interested to see what Skitter, Trickster and Genesis will do to "convince" the Mayor to give another chance to Brockton Bay, but at the same time I have a VERY BAD FEELING about the Mayor and his family's fate. I'm concerned more about what might happen to the man's family than about Skitter, Trickster and the Mission itself. Actually, I want the mission to fail, since its all about Coil and his future dominance over the City, besides I don't want nothing unfortunate to happen to the Mayor or any of his family's members. Especially if there are children involved. I'm going to be very pissed if Skitter will go so far to hold the Mayor's family hostage, in order to force him to comply to her demands.

This shit should not happen, not even for Dinah's sake. Besides, Coil will not free Dinah not even if the Mission will be a huge success.

I found the dining room and started counting the number of shoes under the table. "Four adults. I think two male, two female, judging by the footwear. Two younger girls. Going by their size, I'd guess between eight and twelve."

"He has a son and two twin daughters," Trickster said.
I arranged bugs on the ground by Trickster to sketch out a rough floor plan of the house and show the pair where the family was relative to us.
"How do you want to do this?" Genesis asked.
"We scare the wits out of them, then we'll introduce ourselves to the mayor," Trickster said. "You guys start us off. I'll keep an eye out for trouble and handle things if any cops show up or if anyone flees."
"We're attacking with their family there?" I asked.
"Sure. Bigger impact if we threaten them too."
"Not sure I like that."
"When I was talking to Coil about what Tattletale said about the schedule, he suggested it. Unless you want to go against him?"
He was talking to Coil. I made a mental note of that. Did I need to watch out for an attack from Trickster? It would be as simple as swapping the positions of an active grenade with a stone near me.
It was possible. He was ruthless, he didn't seem to have many compunctions about killing and he was in the best position to do it. I couldn't sense any people who might be Coil's soldiers.
There was the possibility that I was walking into a trap, that everyone in the house we were about to attack was a threat. I could handle that much.
Too many potential avenues of attack. Too many potential threats. And with the possibility of long-range weapons, Trickster or even a surprise attack by Genesis, it could come at any instant.
"Skitter?" Genesis asked.
"Hm? Right. Um. I suppose not. We just scare them, right? We don't do any physical harm?"
"Right," Trickster said.
Well, I could do that. It wasn't so different from what I'd done in my first job with the Undersiders. I'd terrorized hostages then for a greater purpose, and I could do the same with a family for the same reason.

Trickster being an UTTERLY AMORAL ASSHOLE confirmed in this Chapter. He's ready to attack a family with TWO CHILDREN only because Coil promised him to help him with the "object" of his unhealthy obsession. This boy is seriously fucked in his mind, I don't think he's sane. He doesn't seem to me like a naive type, so this make me wonder if he's not crazy+ asshole enough to even kill children if he's assured by a pathological liar that his girlfriend will be fine. I don't believe him when he said that he won't do any physical harm to them, he's someone who won't hesitate to hurt or even kill for his purposes. Let's not forget what he did to Vista while his team held back a lot of their power to not hurt the Wards. I'm starting to feel double pity for Noelle: she have a crazy and uncontrollable power AND she have a crazy and obsessed boyfriend.

If he's her boyfriend, of course, and not just someone who made a passion for her without her knowledge. Gosh, I won't want someone like Trickster in my life. He'll CREEP ME OUT and make me keep an respectable distance of him. Not the perfect boyfriend for a girl to have. While I like protective boys, borderline insane protective boys are not my cup of tea.
DON'T FUCKING DARE TO HURT THAT FAMILY, SKITTER, OR YOU'RE GOING TO GET THE BIGGEST BLACK BALL FROM ME SO FAR!!! :anger:

"Just give me a second," I said.

"I'm going, then," Genesis said, floating over the edge of the hill.
"Not the first time you've needed time to get ready," Trickster commented to me.
"Hm?"
"Just seems like a drawback."
Is he threatening me? Letting me know he's on to one of my weaknesses?
"I'm a general, and it takes time to mobilize my army. Better to hit hard with all my forces at once."
"Not always. You could have built up to a crescendo there."
"And give them a chance to scatter? I'd have to divide the swarm to cut each group of people off, which would mean less bugs for each, smaller effect overall."
He shook his head.
"What?"
"Nothing."
"You seem just a little more hostile than before," I said.
"Do I?"
My bugs had gathered around the handful of entry points I'd been able to find. Windows were open, but each window had been set up with either plywood or screens to compensate for the glass Shatterbird had destroyed. There was a fan system for the bathrooms that was structured to discourage bugs from crawling through in reverse, with flaps that would presumably only open when the fan was active, and that was easy to bypass with some cooperation of the arthropodic collective.
"Yeah. Any reason for it?"
"Not a huge fan of you stepping on Ballistic's toes. He's sort of a friend."
Not the way he tells it. "I didn't intend any offense."
More bugs were entering through one of the doors at the side of the house, which was ajar. I presumed it was to let the warm late-spring/early-summer air flow through the house. The challenge there was keeping the bugs from being spotted before I was ready.
When I realized what Genesis was planning, I shifted my bugs to follow. She headed straight for the kitchen window and crashed through the plywood there.
She was followed shortly after by my swarm, spilling into the room to spread over windows, ceiling and floor, only a small few darting around the people.
They turned to run, naturally, running for the door that led to the kitchen and to the hallway. They were met by the remainder of my swarm, a thick cloud of flies, dragonflies, moths, roaches and beetles. I could feel them backing away, four adults, two children.
"Police are on their way. Gonna swap them with us the second they get to the house. Warning you in advance so we can look confident."
Damn.
"Appreciate that line of thinking, but there's one small problem," I said.
He looked at me, then frowned. "I can't get a grip on you. You're doing what you did when you were talking to Legend and Miss Militia."
"A little more refined than that, but yeah."
"Fuck," he said. Then he groaned. "And now I've lost sight of the cops."
"I can deal with them, if you want."
"Just find them and I'll handle that. Where's your real body?"
I hesitated. Then I had my clone turn and point to another clone. Just in case he decided to go on the attack.
"I see you. Right. And the cops?"
"Over there, but don't teleport me," I said. "I've got something else in mind, and the visual effect will be stronger."
"If I don't teleport you, I have to fight whichever cop I'm not teleporting," he noted.
Cope, I thought. I deigned not to respond, and dismantled the clone that was standing next to him. I did draw an arrow pointing him to where the two officers had circled one corner of the property.
Rather than visit the house myself, I gathered some of the bugs I'd sent to the room and began forming a clone there. From what I'd seen of the process, it was sort of spooky in its own right. A person materializing from vermin. I carried the small camera and microphone towards the swarm, using the video feed to remotely see the clone from a short distance so I could match the finer features and body shape. When I was done, I added the remaining bugs to the swarm, the camera and microphone hidden in their midst, and shifted the camera into place.
I recognized our mayor. Never someone I'd paid a whole lot of attention to, given how I wasn't exactly a voter, but I recognized him in a general way. His face tended to pop up in advertisements and media. If the city wasn't in the state it was in right now, it would be on every TV channel, well into the swing of things for the imminent mayoral elections. He was fifty or sixty, with horseshoe-pattern baldness on a round head and large ears that sort of stuck out.
The woman next to him would be his wife. She had the look of someone who had purchased their good looks, with stylish clothes, an expensive haircut and top-notch makeup and skin care. She was clutching her husband, who was holding his two twin daughters.

So Ballistic told to his boss everything he talked with Skitter. Nice, Ballistic, thank you for being so professional at holding a private conversation secret from other people

. You fucker. You said that you dislike Trickster and now you pretend that you're of his side? Hmm, I think that Trickster is already aware of Ballistic's opinions about him but he turns a blind eye, pretending that they're still friends. Trickster lies himself all the fucking time. That he have friends, that Noelle can be saved, maybe returning to his home is also a lie. He's not naive, he's delusional as fuck. Skitter is the one naive here. For trusting Coil with Dinah and Ballistic with secrets. Btw, Skitter, good idea with sending SKITTER CLONES in the Mayor's house. If everything will be limited just at conversation, then it will be fine. Much, much better than the other way around.

There were two young adults there too. Older teenagers or young twenty-somethings. The guy looked seriously well-built, the girl statuesque; I got the vibe of an athlete and his cheerleader girlfriend more than I got the impression of a brother and sister with good genetics. The guy stood a little in front of his parents and girlfriend, as if he wanted to protect them. Genesis and I stood on the other side of the dining room table.

"What do you want?" he asked.
"A conversation," Trickster spoke. He had hopped up to the ledge of the ground-floor window and was now hopping down, one hand on his hat. He adjusted it. "Hello, Mr. Mayor."
The mayor looked at each of us in turn. Well, at Trickster and the fake-selves that Genesis and I were producing. "To what do I owe this questionable pleasure?"
"We hear you're going to Washington tomorrow."
I saw the son turn to look over his shoulder at his dad. I also noted that he was discreetly drawing a phone from his pocket, concealed by the way he'd turned his body. If I couldn't sense movements through my bugs, I would have missed it.
I could have said something, but I stayed quiet. Instead, I drew Atlas to a point near the window and began uncoiling and stretching out the lines of pre-prepared silk I'd already drawn out for emergency use.
"I am."
"Well, I think it would only be fair if you heard from all of your constituents," Trickster remarked. "Before you come to a decision."
"You pay taxes?" The son asked, shifting his position again so his right hand was hidden behind his girlfriend. I could feel him adjusting his grip on the phone.
As far as I could tell, he hadn't actually done anything to it. I waited for him to stop moving his hand, and then threaded a series of flying bugs between his fingers and the device, winding the thread around it.
"Rory," the mayor spoke, his tone a warning. He turned his attention to Trickster. "And? Which outcome are you hoping for?"
"I think it would be excellent if the city kept on going. Things are getting better."
"And you're putting yourselves in charge," the mayor noted.
"We're just keeping the peace," Trickster said. "Doing a better job than your local heroes."
"If you have a liberal interpretation of 'peace', maybe," the mayor said.
Rory moved his fingers, tapping the screen, and I had Atlas fly away from the window. The phone was torn from his hand and bounced off of the window pane before landing outside. Atlas reeled it in further while Rory looked around in confusion and alarm.
"No phone calls," I spoke, buzzing through my swarm.
"Give that back," he said.
"Is your phone really a priority?" Trickster asked.
"Yeah," Rory said. "Yeah it is."
"Then you should have known better than to use it here," Trickster said, shrugging.

Gosh, I hope that Rory was able to send the message to heroes before Atlas took the phone. This is the first time when I don't want Skitter to win and I pray for the heroes to arrive as fast as they can to protect the Mayor against the villains. Trickster can be arrested for all I care, of course I want Skitter and Genesis to escape but without making the devil deal with the Mayor. But no, if I think better, its not the first time when I want Skitter to fail. First time was when she stole the data from the Protectorate Headquarters (back then I was thinking that there were all the heroes names on that data for Coil). I was wrong but right now, I'm not wrong because I know that if this mission will be a success, Coil will take over Brockton Bay. And then everything will be over. Including for the citizens themselves. Imagine living under a puppet controlled by a dictator. NIGHTMARE.

"Give it back," Rory turned to glare at 'me'. At my swarm-double.

Trickster chuckled, "Never really got that smartphone craze. People go gaga over the things."
No, I thought. Something's off.
What I wouldn't give for Tattletale's power. Or even to have her present. How would she pull the pieces together, fill in the blanks? She could have looked at the big picture here and known exactly what was going on, while I was left to guess.
The obsession over the phone? I couldn't draw any conclusions. What else? The family dinner with the son bringing his girlfriend over? Nothing too strange.
They weren't scared.
The little girls were glaring at us as they clutched their dad, Rory was too focused on his phone when his family was in imminent danger, and Rory's girlfriend was staying very still. Topping it off, the mayor was too casual in how he was addressing us.
Ah.
"I think it would be in everyone's best interests if Brockton Bay kept going. Not quite fair to judge the fate of the city at its lowest point," Trickster said.
"Are you being ironic on purpose?" The mayor asked. "You're making a very strong case for why the city shouldn't continue down the path it's been going down, just by being here."
Again, that confidence. One didn't trade banter with someone who was implicitly threatening them and their family with bodily harm. Not if they didn't have some measure of security their would-be assailants weren't aware of.
I considered the various possibilities. Not too hard to narrow down the options, with the process of elimination.
I drew the words against the wall, above and behind the gathered family.
Trickster didn't seem to notice. "I'm surprised you aren't showing us more respect. You'd think we'd almost be equal on a level, current guy in charge of the city talking to the aspiring rulers."
"I earned my position through hard work, dedication and by convincing the people that it was in their best interests to vote for me. Which it was. You three? You're criminals. Thugs. You didn't earn anything."
"Thugs? Do Thugs take on the Slaughterhouse Nine and walk away?"

The Mayor (I keep using capital letter for his job because I don't know his real name and I have to call him somehow) is RIGHT: they're thugs who try to take the City from people who really care for its citizens and give it to a dictator. Sorry, Skitter, but he's right: right now, you're a thug. When you fought against S9, you're a hero. When you defended your territory and your people, you're a hero. When you tried to help the heroes, you're a hero. But when you're robbing a bank or threaten the family of an surprising honest politician, you're nothing but a thug and a vile villain. I can't be of your side this time, sorry. Its a matter of MY OWN MORAL CODE

. Yep, I think is a trap somewhere, they're too calm in this situation, especially when there are also two little girls with them. Now, either Rory called the heroes, Rory himself is a hero, his girlfriend is a hero or the Mayor is a hero. Or everyone present there is secretly a parahuman, without being necessary heroes.

"All you have going for you is violence and intimidation. You can't accomplish anything but destruction that way."

I made the words on the wall bigger. Trickster didn't see them, or he didn't care.
"Trickster-" I started, speaking through my swarm. I need to have a word with you.
"Well," Trickster said, cutting me off, "If you insist, who am I to argue?"
In an instant, one of the two twin girls was replaced by one of the dining room chairs on our side of the table, and vice versa. Trickster grabbed her hair and pulled her close, drawing a gun and pressing it to her head.
"Trickster," Genesis said, in the same second I moved forward to stop him.
Was she trying to stop him as well, or had she seen the words?
She settled one talon on his shoulder. I wasn't sure what signal she gave, but Trickster paused.
Whatever it was, he must have looked up at the words I'd written, because Rory noticed. He whipped his head around to see, and I couldn't disperse the bugs fast enough.
'Triumph' written on the wall with bugs with a triangle beneath, pointing at his head. Above his 'girlfriend' were the words 'Prism or Ursa'.
The mayor's son was the civilian identity of Triumph. Enhanced physical prowess and a concussive shout that could punch holes through concrete.
He whipped his head around and stared at Trickster. Before the teleporter could pull the trigger or do anything else, Triumph shouted. His sister was untouched, but Trickster was sent flying into the wall hard enough that he was half-buried in the drywall.
"Duck, Kyla!"
The little girl threw herself to the ground as Triumph lunged forward, kicking the dining room table. It slid halfway across the room, over 'Kyla' and into the wall. The side slammed into Trickster's midsection, and the table's contents flew into the villain and the wall around him. Trickster went limp, his upper body flopping over the table.

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSS, I WAS RIGHT.

Rory is a hero and he's the civilian identity of Triumph. And his girlfriend is either Prism or Ursa Aurora. I hope is Prism, because her power seems to be stronger than Ursas. Trickster got fucked and I feel very good seeing him injured like this.

He threatened to kill a kid, for fuck sake. The more I read about Trickster's actions, the more I dislike him. He have no qualms to hurt kids, fucker. I wonder how Skitter noticed who Rory and his girlfriend are for real but I don't care anymore. All I care is for them to arrest Trickster and humiliate Skitter.

I mobilized the swarm, but Triumph was already shouting again, slamming Genesis into a wall, much as he'd done with Trickster. A third bellow annihilated my swarm-clone, and he turned to start eradicating my spread out bugs while his family ran for the hallway, led by the superheroine.

Couldn't get a serious number of bugs together in one place to mount a serious attack without Triumph obliterating them and he was either too angry or too stubborn to surrender to the stings and bites I was managing to inflict. The superheroine had her phone out and I wasn't able to tug it from her hand like I had with Triumph's. They would be getting reinforcements shortly. Even if I took all of them out of action, I'd still have to get Trickster out of there and escape with my own hide intact.
"Damn it," I cursed. I broke into a run, accompanied by my swarm-doubles, hurrying for the house. I couldn't leave him there, not without jeopardizing everything. He struck me as being disloyal enough to offer information for his own sake, or information about the Undersiders, at the very least. And leaving him behind would leave a permanent rift between our team and the Travelers. It could even mean being dropped by Coil, an excuse for him to separate me from my teammates.
That said, I couldn't save him or mount a serious attack with just my doubles. He was hitting too hard, handling my bugs too effectively. I could have killed or critically injured his family with the few bugs I did have, brought them down with the more dangerous insects, but I wasn't willing to go that far. Not with people who didn't deserve it.
Atlas wouldn't be strong or versatile enough to carry an unconscious body to safety. If I was going to haul Trickster out of there, it would have to be with my own two hands.
I could only pray I wasn't exposing myself to whatever assassination ploy Coil had in mind. Or worse, that I wasn't doing exactly what he wanted me to do.

Ok, fine, I was so excited about Triumph saving his sister that I forgot that if Trickster will be arrested, Undersiders and Travelers will have more troubles than they already have. He's going to tell everything he knows about them because he's a jerk like this. Skitter can't leave him there "sighs". And I doubt that Skitter will be humiliated. She's the Queen Bug of Strategies.

She'll come up with some really wtf ingenious plans to take Triumph and his girlfriend down. She's a genius like that, no matter if she's doing good or bad. Never underestimate Skitter.

For the first time, I'm going to end this Chapter with.....COME ON, TRIUMPH AND URSA AURORA (OR PRISM), KICK SKITTER'S ASS!!!!!!!! DON'T LET COIL WIN. I'M 100% OF YOUR SIDE.

Good night and sleep well, heroes, villains and rogues.

blackarrow · Aug 9, 2018

KnownParadox said:
Pretty far.

They are a villain though.

Hmm, what about Gregor the Snail? Well, I never saw him acting girly but maybe he can switch to a girl personality at times. I know that he's related to snails only symbolical (powers+ some of his physical aspect) but snails are hermaphrodites so...I made this strange connection. What if he's a hermaphrodite himself+ he also have a fluctuating gender identity? Tell me if I'm right this time.

rafuki22 · Aug 9, 2018

blackarrow said:
Hmm, what about Gregor the Snail? Well, I never saw him acting girly but maybe he can switch to a girl personality at times. I know that he's related to snails only symbolical (powers+ some of his physical aspect) but snails are hermaphrodites so...I made this strange connection. What if he's a hermaphrodite himself+ he also have a fluctuating gender identity? Tell me if I'm right this time.

I can answer you ... nope.

KnownParadox · Aug 10, 2018

blackarrow said:
Hmm, what about Gregor the Snail? Well, I never saw him acting girly but maybe he can switch to a girl personality at times. I know that he's related to snails only symbolical (powers+ some of his physical aspect) but snails are hermaphrodites so...I made this strange connection. What if he's a hermaphrodite himself+ he also have a fluctuating gender identity? Tell me if I'm right this time.

Not part of the Travellers or Faultline's Crew.

I'll give you a freebie, it's not anyone in the Undersiders, yes that includes the dogs and the bugs.

blackarrow · Aug 10, 2018

KnownParadox said:
Not part of the Travellers or Faultline's Crew.

I'll give you a freebie, it's not anyone in the Undersiders, yes that includes the dogs and the bugs.

"sighs" Ok. I'm thinking at two other villains. William Manton. Because of his Siberian projection. I know that she's similar with an adult version of his daughter (who may or may not be Bonesaw) but what if she's also his feminine manifestation? What if he, despite being biological male and having an ex-wife, identifies himself with a woman and uses Siberian as his female body and identity (among other things)?

Another one....Marquis. Maybe he respects women so much not because of his personal code of honor as he keeps saying but because he himself have a strong feminine side and he THINKS he understands the women better than most men. I won't be surprised if he's also a secret cross-dresser and he had to kill some of his people because they surprised him trying some pretty dresses while looking in the mirror and calling himself aloud "Marquess". Imagine him switching to his female self while in prison.
"Marquess": Amelia, my dear girl, give your mother a hug. I've been waiting for you for such a long time...
Amelia:

Their cellmates: DAFUQ!

Wrong or right?

PS: I'm not making fun of genderqueer people, I respect them just like I respect all other people with different sexual/identity orientations. I'm just having a little fun trying to guess the gender-fluid character in Worm. Hope I didn't offend anyone.

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

Anti-nihilist(maybe).

Section XIII

Sharp Talons Cleave The Worthy

Anti-nihilist(maybe).

SPACE!

Sharp Talons Cleave The Worthy

Anti-nihilist(maybe).

Not a sphere

Not a sphere

Anti-nihilist(maybe).

Not a sphere