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

KnownParadox · Oct 31, 2018

Random Lurker said:
Oh, you have no idea. There's a reason we refer to the Shipping chart as an eldritch abomination.

Its not as bad as RWBY's though, probably, and Worm doesn't have all the snazzy shipping names, or atleast they're harder to find.

ImperatorV · Oct 31, 2018

Random Lurker said:
Oh, you have no idea. There's a reason we refer to the Shipping chart as an eldritch abomination.

I thought only the Silencio shipping chart turned into an eldritch abomination?

DataSnake · Oct 31, 2018

blackarrow said:
Btw, I wonder if there are fem slash fanfictions Taylor/Lisa. I'd read them all.

Of course there are, but if you want to avoid spoilers you should probably finish canon first. That said, my personal favorite is Glassmaker.

rafuki22 · Nov 1, 2018

Happy Halloween!

KnownParadox · Nov 1, 2018

Happy late Halloween!

blackarrow · Nov 1, 2018

Hello, spooky souls, ghosts, ghouls and spirits. HAPPY LATE HALLOWEEN and lets do another Chapter where probably heroes and Undersiders will make plans involving taking a super-creepy human-Endbringer down before she'll get her countless hands and claws over other heroes/villains. And save Vista before its too late for her and them (just imagine hundreds and hundreds of crazy Vista clones playing with space like its plasticine for them

) No matter what everyone in this Chapter will say, I won't believe that Vista is dead, unless I'll see her dead body with my own eyes. No body, no murder.

You probably noticed that I didn't believed that Mannequin and Crawler were defeated not even when Legend confirmed this. Only when I saw their silicon statues, I believed that they're no longer a menace. And even now, when I know what happened to them, I still have a dreadful feeling that somehow Mannequin will not stay a silicon statue for too long. We're going to have this most HORRIBLE THING ever back in our lives so he'll continue to ruin us further.

So, Vista is still alive, Noelle probably holds her locked somewhere so she can use her to produce more clones. She knows that if she kills Vista, she can't produce Vista clones anymore, because I think she's only capable of creating clones from living people. Let's start a new Chapter of this HORROR Arc Queen 18.4

We had to take the elevator in two trips, due to the size of our group, and that meant splitting us up. The heroes were too wary to leave any number of us unsupervised, whether it was on the ground floor or upstairs.

I entered the elevator in the company of Parian, Regent, Bitch, Bastard and Bentley, Miss Militia, Weld, Clockblocker, and Triumph. It seemed to be an advanced design, the elevator offering so smooth a ride that I might not have been able to tell it was in motion if it weren't for the bugs elsewhere in the building.
We exited at the third floor. I could use the bugs that had gathered near the waste bins or in the walls to try to get a sense of who and what was around me.
I recognized the area as the site where I'd entered via Trickster's teleportation: desks, cubicles, computers and paperwork. I could sense some people heading into back rooms to rouse people who were sleeping in the office, on benches and in chairs. All of the officers and out-of-uniform PRT operatives were gathering to look.
One of them stepped forward from the rest of the crowd.
"Deputy director," Miss Militia said, standing straighter.
"I'm too cynical to think this is an arrest, or to hope that it's anything more than another ruse," the Deputy Director said. "And I can't help but note these villains aren't in restraints."
"It's not an arrest, and I hope it's a trick," Miss Militia replied.
"You hope it's a trick?" the Deputy Director asked.
"Because I like the truth even less. A new class S-threat."
Every officer in the room reacted, a general murmur punctuated with swearing and exclamations.
"Who?"
"An unknown. Possibly a fourth Endbringer, not yet fully grown. I'd like to get in contact with PRT thinkers to verify."
"Waites," the Deputy Director called out, over the noise from the gathered police, "Doyon. Get on the phone. Patch them through to me as soon as you get hold of someone."
"We should wake people up," Miss Militia said. She glanced at the nearest clock, "It's four twenty-four in the morning. If this is real, we'll want the heaviest hitters ready to deploy at a moment's notice. There's a chance this may be our one chance to kill her."
"You're killing her?" I asked, quiet.
"No," Miss Militia said. "Nothing's set in stone. But there's a chance it may be our only opportunity and our only option. If we're going to do it, I want to do it successfully."
"No word from Director Calvert?" the Deputy Director asked.
One of the guys in plainclothes spoke up, "He's gone silent, sir."
I didn't miss the fact that nearly a third of the local officers glanced my way. We were apparently the prime suspects. Which wasn't wrong, per se.
The Deputy Director ordered, "Militia, join me in the Director's office. Triumph, see to it that the villains are detained and separated. Interview rooms one and two for Regent and Skitter. Conference room for Hellhound."
I could sense Rachel shifting position.
"If I may make a suggestion, sir," Miss Militia cut in, "I think we should put Skitter in the conference room? She and Tattletale are our main sources of information."
"Not complaining," I said, "But Bitch, or Hellhound if you want to call her that, may be more comfortable in my company. Her dogs are their normal size. If she uses her power, you'll be able to see. Miss Militia already saw to it I was disarmed."
"This sounds like you're positioning people for a maneuver," the Deputy Director said.
"No. Just trying to keep things as copacetic as possible," I said.
"I'd okay it," Miss Militia said.
"Fine. Hellhound and Skitter in the conference room-" the Deputy Director paused as the elevator opened with nearly all of Brockton Bay's remaining parahumans. "Tattletale to the conference room. Parian in the legal room. Grue and Imp in interview room two. Put police tape and a sign on the door with a notice of Imp's stranger classification to remind people why it's shut andstaying shut."
"Hey!"
"Relax, Imp," Grue said. "You want to confirm this is alright, Skitter?"
"So long as my teammates go free when trouble starts," I said. "But yeah. I understand the paranoia."
And I think we could break out if we had to, I thought. I didn't say that part.
"This sucks," Imp commented.
"Suck it up," Grue responded. "Come on."
We split up, with Rachel, Tattletale and I settling in the conference room, at the end furthest from the door. Triumph stood watch, and the blinds were left open, leaving us visible to the countless officers who were now on their computers and phones. There wasn't one of them who wasn't casting us suspicious glances every minute or so, or peering through the windows of the interview rooms at Regent, Grue and Imp.

Miss Militia continues to demonstrate why she's one of my favorite heroes and characters, Undersiders are heroes's "guests" and everyone is getting ready to counterattack an insane and violent Proto-Endbringer. Btw, I have a theory about how Noelle managed to kidnap Vista despite Vista having a lot of ways to escape from her. I think someone helped her and that someone is obviously Trickster. Probably Trickster teleported Vista right into Noelle's claws and the little heroine couldn't run away because her powers doesn't work so well when she's surrounded by more people than one- in her case, she was trapped between Noelle and Trickster. Trickster is helping his monstrous sweetheart, exactly how I was expecting to happen.

Who can stop this vengeful duo? Hmmm, I have another theory. This time, is one of the BEST theories I had lately. Look at what my mind just vomited.

Mrs Krouse, suddently appears out of blue in front of her son and her daughter in law: Francis, you have to stop right now from whatever you're doing and go home. I missed you, my boy.
Krouse: No way, mom, I'm having a lot of fun with my girlfriend, helping her to get revenge on the people who ruined her life almost as much as I ruined it myself.
Mrs Krouse: Young man, this is not the right way to talk with your mother. You forgot your manners.
Krouse: Fuck manners, I....
Mrs Krouse: Francis, you're grounded! Let's go home. You'll not leave your room until I'll allow it.
Krouse: Ok, mom. But what are you doing here? This is a different Earth for fuck sake.
Mrs Krouse: I'm so going to wash that mouth of yours with soap all day long. A mother will always find her baby anywhere, you know.
Noelle: But my revenge...
Mrs Krouse: You'll come home too, young lady, and abandon these awful thoughts. Forever. Revenge is not something fitting for my daughter in law.
Noelle, defeated: O-okay....
"muffled cheers playing all over the world"
Mrs Krouse, the true heroine of this story.

I also noted the fact that there were nearly a dozen PRT officers fully suited up in their combat gear, complete with the full-face helmets, the chainmail-mesh covered body armor and containment foam sprayers. They kept out of the way. If I was using my eyes and I didn't have my swarm sense, I wouldn't have known they were there.

"Sorry, by the way," I told Triumph.
"The fuck you apologizing for?" Rachel grumbled. She'd settled into a chair, feet on the table, Bastard curled up in her lap. One hand dangled, resting on Bentley's head.
"I attacked his home, remember? Didn't know it was him, but Trickster threatened his family. A fight broke out and I nearly killed Triumph."
"They know?" Triumph asked. "You shared the details already?"
"More or less," I said. "Bitch doesn't care and isn't the type to use it against you, and Tattletale would have figured it out anyways."
Tattletale nodded.
"Fuck," Triumph swore. "Weld was right."
"Anyways," I said, "It… there were better ways to do it. So I am sorry."
"Didn't need doing in the first place," Triumph said, sighing. "I was prepared to risk my life the day I graduated from the Wards. Knew what I'd be getting into. Week I had clearance, I watched all the video we have of the class S threats. Leviathan, Simurgh, Behemoth, Slaughterhouse Nine, Nilbog, Sleeper. I knew what I was getting into. So I'm not shocked or horrified at the attempt on my life. What gets me is what you did to my dad. Set his career back years, if it's even recoverable, by forcing him to take that stance. The whole thing, start to finish, was unnecessary."
"He'll recover," Tattletale said, "I'd argue his career was already pretty fucked after the way things went down, here. Not saying he was to blame, or that he wasn't, but it's hard to graduate from mayor to governor when your legacy is a flooded ruin of a city."
"It's not that bad," I said.
Tattletale shrugged, "Not if you're here, but the photographers and reporters who are getting pictures and video footage of Brockton Bay aren't going to take pictures of the barely affected areas. They're going to get the beaches, the south end and the crater. Because that's what sells. The people outside the city only see the worst bits. When we're talking public perception, it's not what is, it's the picture that's painted."
"And the picture is of a handful of scary and powerful supervillains running a fucked up city," Triumph said. "Which is about to get more fucked up if you aren't pulling our legs. So yeah, not a good legacy for my dad."
"We have no reason to pull your leg," I said.
"Getting access to something else that's confidential? Covering your kidnapping of Vista so you're clear to use Regent's power on her later?"
"Why would we want her?" Rachel asked.
"She's strong."
"Bitch's question is a good one," Tattletale said. "Yes, Vista's strong, but why would we want her? It'd be putting ourselves at risk, for no particular gain. If we wanted raw power, we'd have kept your cousin. There's nothing left in the city that we want or need, so it's not like we really need her assistance to get a job done. We have money, we have resources, and anything that's worth anything is destroyed or taken by now."
"Then what do you want?" Triumph asked.
"Security. We have all of the basics. Shelter, food, warmth, companionship, money. Anything we do from here on out's going to involve better securing ourselves where we're at. We want to stop visiting villains from getting a footing anywhere in the city unless they're joining us. Keep the peace so we keep you guys off our backs. I wouldn't mind a system like the Yakuza of Japan's yesteryear, where we support and involve ourselves in local business, legally, to the point that nobody will be able to shake us."
"That's terrifying," Triumph said.
"Why? Because we're bad? Ooh, spooky," Tattletale waggled her fingers at him. "If we do it right, we won't have to extort anything from the locals. We can do more to stop the drug trade than any of your guys. Then we disappear into the background, make enough money off the side benefits of our powers and investments to live a life of comfort. Mobilize only if and when there's a new threat. Build trust with you guys, ensure that any new parahumans go to either your group, go to ours, or they get dealt with some other way. Ensure that anyone like Hellhound who needs more elbow room or freedom is somewhere they're comfortable, where they won't do any real harm."
"And she's okay with that?" Triumph asked, "Being benched?"
"Give me my dogs, don't bother me, don't get in my face, I'm okay with whatever," Rachel said. Her arm was moving. It took me a second to realize she was scratching Bastard.
"Calmer than you were a week and a half ago, if that's the case," Triumph said.
"Dunno," Rachel replied. "That was then. This is now."
Triumph sighed.
Weld and Clockblocker joined us. Clockblocker handed Triumph a can of coke or something like it.
"They behaving?" Clockblocker asked.
"Pretty much. Tattletale mentioned Dinah, but it wasn't to fuck with me. We were talking about their master plan, if you can call it that. Not much else."
Clockblocker looked at me. "Skitter and I had a discussion on the way over."
"And you won't have another," Miss Militia cut in. She'd stepped out of the Director's office next door and into the doorway. "We're not here to socialize. We got in touch with some thinkers. Eleventh Hour says he gets an 'eight'. Appraiser's read says we're 'purple'. Rule for any pre-situ call is we get three points of reference, going by thinkers alone, that means a third thinker. The first they were able to get in touch with was Hunch. Your old teammate, Weld."
"Didn't think he rated, yet," Weld said.
"Chief Director Costa-Brown gave the a-ok, and Hunch says it's bad. All together, we're calling this a threat level A."
"No shit. The Undersiders are for real?" Triumph asked.
Tattletale didn't wait for him to get an answer, "That's threat level S. S-class."
"The Chief Director of the PRT determined it was an A-class threat."
"Bullshit," Tattletale said. "S-class. I know Appraiser offered a purple-velvet diagnosis for his previous ratings on Endbringer attacks, so that's not the reason it's so low. Eleven's score of eight has to be above the seventy-five percent mark, and an answer as vague as Hunch's is going to be a seventy-five percent exact, as per section nine-seven-six, article seventy-one. That's three values that have to be above the threshold for declaring a threat level S situation."

Everyone SHOULD listen to Tattletale everytime when she opens her mouth because she's always right (with very few exceptions when she's wrong but then she comes with some kick-ass back-up plans that not only allow her to fix her mistakes but to win as well. Because she's fantastic like this

). She knows more about everything than everyone else and nobody can deny this. An advise for heroes: if you want to win against Noelle, fucking do what Tattletale tells you to do, not try to antagonize her or pretend that she doesn't know more than you.

Thank you for apologizing to Triumph, Skitter. I'm surprised how forgiving he's, he's a truly good person (yet, what he can't forgive is that his father suffered as well, this showing how much he loves and respect his parent). At least you apologized and saved his father's life, Skitter, but I think that he's still traumatized and maybe he'll never recover completely. I'm not sure you'll have the same success with Assault, he doesn't seem to me the forgiving type (and honestly he's so fucking wrong in his judgement because you're not responsible for Battery's death, you're a victim too to Bonesaw and Jack's machinations.) As much as I feel bad for Assault, I agree less and less with him when it comes to his thirst for revenge, because its oriented towards the exactly wrong person and IS NOT the right time for it. I just hope that he'll not do something extraordinary stupid to jeopardize everyone's chances to defeat Noelle just because he can't keep his feelings under his control.
Sleeper? This is the first time I heard about this parahuman who is apparently as dangerous as S9, Endbringers and Nilbog. Hmmm, what kind of power they have? Put the entire world on sleep by singing an endless lulaby?

Or being basically Worm-verse Freddy Krueger- enter in people's dreams and anyone who'll be killed by them will die in real life as well. That would be a scary power to have but not exactly a world- menace kind of power. Maybe they can enter into more than one person's dreams at the same time? Like thousands or millions of people's dreams? THAT would be a world- menace type of power.

More parahumans mentioned here: Appraiser seems to rate the attacks using colors; Eleventh Hour rates the attacks using numbers and Hunch seems to rate using percentages, kind of like Dinah. Not hard to guess their powers this time. They're Thinkers.

"How the hell do you know all that?" Weld asked.

Tattletale waved him off.
"The Chief Director made the call. We're standing by it," Miss Militia said.
"We're talking class-S, even if you ignore pre-situation verification. Section nine-seven-five, article fifty-seven. Classifying high level duplicators and villains who operate to any exponential degree. Nilbog and Simurgh both count, and Noelle does too. If the powers generate more instances of power generation or recurring effect in an epidemic pattern…"
"She's not a self duplicator," Miss Militia said, "And yes, she's creating powers, but they're copies of other people's powers. They're not exponential or self-recursive in effect."
"You're splitting hairs."
"And," Miss Militia said, "She doesn't create more powers on her own. She has an intrinsic requirement of needing contact and time to absorb. She doesn't meet the criteria as they stand."
"Still splitting those hairs," Tattletale said. "Her threat level zooms up to S as soon as she gets her hands on anyone who can enable something like that. Like, say, any tinker."
"I don't know why we're even discussing this, when you seem to have our operations manual memorized and you're capable of realizing it for yourself," Miss Militia said, "but it doesn't bear dwelling on. The difference in our response to a class A crisis and a class S one is minor at best. Some tertiary protocols change, we won't necessarily have Alexandria, Legend or Eidolon assisting, and there's no penalties for anyone who subscribed to the critical situation roster if they sit this one out."
"Which they will," Tattletale said. "You're ignoring the fact that people are inherently selfish. It takes something to shake them from that reality, and that's not common."
"I think you're underestimating the inherent goodness of people who dedicate their lives to heroism. I know for a fact we have ample volunteers already informed on the situation. They're en route."
"If the heroes aren't showing in full force, others won't either." Tattletale said, "And there's no epidemic protocols with a class-A."
"We have one tinker," Miss Militia said. "Kid Win. Armsmaster is no longer on the premises. We have no duplicators. The risk is one we can control, either through the organization of our forces or turning any combatants with problematic interactions away. Epidemic protocols are unnecessary."
"Armsmaster escaped, you mean," Tattletale said. "And it won't be that easy."
"Maybe not, but that's the word from above. I'm not interested in debating this further, Tattletale." Miss Militia said. She turned her head slightly toward me, clearly expecting me to comment along the lines of what I'd said in the containment van, about authority tying one's hands. When I didn't rise to the challenge, she said, "We're having a strategy meeting in a matter of minutes. The first phase of the response will be teleporting in momentarily, but our best mass-teleporter died in the Leviathan attack, and the process is slow. I'll be releasing the rest of the Undersiders to join you soon."
"As soon as you have enough extra bodies to watch us," Tattletale commented.
"Yes," Miss Militia said, terse. She looked at the three young heroes who had gathered at the wall by the door. "Be good. Excuses or no excuses, it looked bad when we had the last incident with a break in the truce. Don't let Tattletale provoke you, don't provoke them."
"You can't blame them if they get emotional," Tattletale sighed. "It's only natural, three young men, three young women, a possibility of Capulet-Montague forbidden love between hero and villain…"
"My warning goes for you too, Tattletale. I already instructed Triumph to shout at the first sign of trouble."
"I'll be angelic," Tattletale said.
"Good. You should also know that Parian is leaving. She asked me to tell you, and to let you know she'll be at her territory."
Parian was gone? Shit.

Ha ha ha ha ha ha, Tattletale is the heart and brain of this story. Without Tattletale, there's no Worm. Why you didn't choose Tattletale as the main character, oh, god Wildbow? She's like a much more better version of Skitter

. If I say that I ADORE her, I wouldn't do her enough justice. "Capulet-Montague forbidden love between hero and villain", Tattletale? Seriously..... Romeo and Juliet much? (btw, I apologize to Romeo and Juliet's fans here but I always hated the ending of this tragedy. I understand that it is a tragedy and Shakespeare's tragedies never have good endings in general, but...that ending...oh, man....I'm more a fan of happy/bittersweet endings, especially when it comes to love.) Anyway, back to the story. Tattletale is awesome. I'll never get tired to tell you, my dear little creepers, how awesome Tattletale really is.

Skitter, don't you dare to judge Parian for not wanting to get involved in this fight. Its her choice and you have to respect it, whatever you like or not. She isn't the warrior type of a person, always eager to fight until her body and mind can't take anymore. Not everyone is like you, Skitter, some people just doesn't find any pleasure in fighting all the fucking time.

"I wouldn't have let her go," I said. "For a lot of reasons."

"It's unfortunate, I agree," Miss Militia said, "But we're not in a position to stop her, short of fighting her. She was adamant about not wanting to participate in this fight. Flechette is escorting her back."
"And however Noelle found Vista, she might find Parian and Flechette and target them the same way," Tattletale said.
"Maybe. They both have devices to alert us. In the worst-case scenario, they can inform us if something's happened. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to prepare."
Miss Militia didn't wait for a response. She was already striding down the hall, gesturing to get someone's attention. Someone too small and too young to be a cop.
The three boys at the other end of the long table started talking among themselves.
"This is falling apart before it begins," Tattletale commented.
"I get the impression Miss Militia's spooked," I said. "She's tense."
"Anyone would be," Tattletale replied. "Doesn't help that the last Endbringer fight ended her predecessor's career."
I nodded.
"Our muscle's going to suffer in this fight," Tattletale said. "Your bugs, Bitch's dogs, they can't hurt her, if she absorbs things on contact. Not unless we want clones of Bitch's dogs running rampant."
"The heroes have long ranged fire," I replied. "Kid Win, Miss Militia, Triumph. So Bitch and I adopt a support role. The dogs get our key players around the battlefield, if Bitch is willing."
Rachel grunted something that could have been agreement.
"And I might be able to tie Noelle up without the bugs touching her. Grue can slow her down, Regent could do the same." I finished.
"Regent couldn't use his power against Leviathan. Can you imagine him getting Leviathan under control?"
"I'd rather not," I admitted. "There's a sweet spot as far as rep goes. Having a pet Endbringer puts us in the 'too scary to be allowed to live' category."
"We'd have to do what the Slaughterhouse Nine do, win frequently enough against high odds that people can't afford the losses."
"Would mean we have to go mobile," I said. "So we have time to recuperate while the enemy tries to track us down. Anyways, enough 'what if'. Let's get back on topic."
Tattletale nodded. "Imp?"
"For this coming fight? Rescue," I said. "The enemy won't target her, they might not target anyone she can get in contact with. Fallen allies, captives, Imp gets them to safety."
Tattletale nodded. The tone of her voice shifted fractionally as she said, "You guys can chime in at any point here."
The young heroes had stopped talking and were listening in.
"I don't know what you want us to add," Clockblocker said.
"Interactions," I said. "Maybe we put you on Bentley's back. We won't have to kill Noelle if you can tag her. We'll be able to keep her frozen long enough for us to erect some form of containment."
"Me? On the dog?"
"You scared?" Rachel asked.
"I think anyone would be a little scared. You can't tell me they aren't a little intimidating."
"Your power nullifies any threat they could pose," I said.
"If it closes its teeth around my arm, the fraction of a second it takes my power to kick in is going to buy it time to dig in just a little. Jaws clamped on my arm, I freeze it, sure, but then every time it unfreezes, it closes a little more before I can freeze it again. No thank you."
"He's scared," Rachel said. She scratched the top of Bastard's head, and I realized she was talking to the wolf cub that was sleeping in her lap. "You're the stuff of nightmares."
Clockblocker snorted, then got caught up in a murmured conversation with Weld and Triumph. They were facing our way as they talked.
I tried to ignore them, focused on taking deep breaths, controlling the intake so I wouldn't start coughing and humiliate myself in front of the local heroes.
"You okay?" Tattletale asked.
"Coughing less. I feel like I've maybe got the worst of it out of my lungs and throat."
"I meant you. You've been quiet. You weren't saying as much as you normally might when I was talking to Miss Militia."
"Thinking."
"Important you keep doing that," she said. "But not if it's getting you like this. Unless you're putting together a master plan."
I shook my head. "No plan. Just fatigue and-"
I stopped. Each and every officer in the next room was turning their heads. I used my bugs to feel out the subject. A hood, with the warmth of a faint natural glow from beneath, with the same effect around his hands, with his loose sleeves. I noted that a glass helm like the one Clockblocker wore fit over his face beneath the hood. People went out of their way to clear out of his path, to such an extent that I might have thought they were in front of an elephant and not a man.
Eidolon entered the conference room and grabbed the seat just to the right of the one at the far end of the table. He swept his cape to one side before he sat down.
"Didn't think you were coming," Tattletale said. "With it being just a Class-A threat."
"The infamous Undersiders," Eidolon spoke. His voice reverberated slightly, an effect similar to Grue's.
"And the famous Eidolon," Tattletale retorted, "while we're doing the reverse-introductions. I thought I told Miss Militia that we shouldn't bring in anyone we can't beat in a fight."
"Don't concern yourself over it," Eidolon said. "I can render myself immune."
"We won't know until it happens," she replied.
There was a pause.
"Tattletale. Are you looking for a chink in the armor?"
"You can't blame me, can you? If we wind up having to fight you, then it might be all over. So I'm gathering intel."
Eidolon didn't reply.
"Okay, sure. Fine," Tattletale raised her hands in surrender. "It's cool."
Eidolon turned away to follow the murmured conversation between Weld, Triumph and Clockblocker. Tattletale rested her elbows on the table, rubbed at her eyes.
"Tired?" I asked.
"Exhausted. Been using my power all night, my head's throbbing, and this whole business with Noelle hasn't even started."
"Take a nap," I suggested.
"No time. And I do want to make sure I have some ideas in advance, for anyone we might have to face. Noelle is going to target Eidolon. If we fight him, we'll have to use his weaknesses against him."
"Tattletale," Eidolon cut Clockblocker off mid-sentence, his voice carrying across the room. "Could you elaborate?"
"Don't worry," she said, "No weaknesses you don't already know about."
"Is that so?"
"You're losing your powers," she said. "Not fast enough that it matters today, but enough that the difference is appreciable."
It was hard to read Eidolon's body language with the few bugs I'd permitted myself. He was leaning forward slightly, and his upper arms pressed against the fabric of his costume as he flexed or clenched a fist.
"And how would you know this, if it were true?"
"Because any other day, with you heroes being as short on teleporters as you are, you'd be helping bring people in. You're conserving your strength. It might even be a long term fear, like you've only got so much power to use over your lifetime before it's all spent. Candle that burns twice as hot, or something."
"Simple deduction? Did you consider that I am not teleporting people because there's a shortage of volunteers?"
"That would contradict what Miss Militia said, and she wasn't lying. And it doesn't fit the overall picture. Alexandria-"
Eidolon slapped his hand down against the table. A forcefield expanded from the impact site, forcing Rachel and I out of our chairs and against the wall. I slumped down to the ground, grabbing my rib, and coughed painfully.
The forcefield had kept Rachel and I out, but Tattletale was inside with Eidolon. The sounds from within were muffled.
But I had bugs on both Eidolon and Tattletale, and I could almost make out their words.
Tattletale was speaking. "…reason you … this situation a class-A threat isn't because it doesn't fit. …did it is because Alexandria wanted an excuse not… … You came because you needed to prove something to yourself. Test … measure of your power in a …nse situation… work best when… danger. This is best challenge you'll have…"

For a moment, I was under impression that Eidolon was going to attack Tattletale when he summoned his forcefield. I was like: DON'T YOU DARE TO HURT MY TATTLETALE, YOU CRAZY OLD MAN! but I read the scene again and I realized that he only wants a private discussion with Tattletale, so nobody else can hear them. Of course that, if he wants, Eidolon can turn Tattletale into ashes in five seconds (and any other Undersider or hero who'll jump in her help will share her fate. Even if his powers are getting weak, he's still the human version of Scion) but he doesn't have the interest to kill her, especially given the whole situation with Noelle.

Tattletale made the connection between Director Rebecca Costa-Brown and Alexandria, realizing that they're basically the same person. I think that if you give Tattletale 2-3 clues and five minutes to think, she'll figure out that Triumvirate works for Cauldron and what exactly they're doing for the organisation.

"…treading dangerous waters," Eidolon spoke. There was no growl in his voice, no anger, irritation or emotion at all. Only calm. It made him easier to understand.

"…can live with danger, … it's interesting. Awfully interesting… why Alexandria's not coming… … me? …secret."
Eidolon said something, but his tone had changed and I wasn't able to switch mental gears fast enough.
"…you?" Tattletale asked. "Years…-"
"The fuck!?" Rachel snarled. Bentley growled as if to accompany her words. He was already growing.
"Relax," I said, before I started coughing again. "They aren't fighting."
"He knocked me over!"
I could see Miss Militia and Assault at the other end of the room, but the forcefield bubble was blocking us.
"What happened!?" Miss Militia shouted.
I tried to respond, coughed instead. My voice was weak with the fresh rawness of my throat as I did manage to utter a reply, "Eidolon flipped…"
"Eidolon attacked!" Rachel yelled.
"Did she provoke him?" Miss Militia asked. Her gun was raised.
"No," I managed only a whisper.
The forcefield winked out. Eidolon was still sitting, he hadn't moved except to slap the table with his hand, but Tattletale was standing.
"Just wanted to have a private conversation," Eidolon said. "I'm sorry. I'll be getting some fresh air."
With that, he stood and strode out of the room. He made his way to the stairwell and I could track him moving to the roof.
I picked up my chair and sat, still coughing intermittently. Rachel was still standing, and her dogs were still growing. I gestured for her to sit.
She just glared across the room.
I gestured again, but the force of the motion made my chest hurt and I started coughing. Before I recovered, Rachel sat with an audible thud. She kicked her boot against the edge of the table, hard, and left it there.
"What did you do?" Miss Militia asked. She was facing Tattletale. I could see the other Undersiders behind her.
"Was just commenting that it seemed odd he wasn't helping you guys out with teleporting people in," Tattletale said.
"You said more than that," Weld noted.
"I'm tired, he's tired, we talked it out. All copacetic," Tattletale said. She leaned back and stretched.
"I'm not so sure," Miss Militia said. "Skitter, are you alright?"
"Recent injury," I managed. "Will be fine in a minute."
Miss Militia nodded. Not much sympathy, but I couldn't blame her. "Then let's get things underway. Everyone, please get seated, or find space to stand."
Grue, Regent and Imp joined us, and Grue set his hands on my shoulders as he stood behind me. He rubbed my exposed back where the armor panel was missing as I coughed hoarsely once or twice.
I counted the people in costume with my swarm. It wasn't nearly as many reinforcements as we'd had against Leviathan. I saw Chevalier and Myrddin, but didn't recognize anyone else. There were the Wards and Protectorate members from Brockton Bay, with perhaps twenty more.
"Tentative ratings, based on what we know, we have her down as a brute eight, a changer two and a combination of striker and master with a rating of ten."
"Too low," I heard Tattletale murmur.
I suppressed a cough, managed only a choke. It drew more attention to me, and I couldn't shake the feeling that everyone was already paying way too much attention. I was wearing my older costume, and somehow felt more juvenile, more exposed. I didn't have the covering of bugs over the exterior of my costume like I was used to, either.
"Her ability allows her to create clones of anyone she touches. The PRT office believes she's a class-A threat, but Tattletale's expectation is that this individual has the potential to become an Endbringer. We're moving forward with extreme caution.
"Our primary issue at the moment is that we can't yet locate her. She has one hostage, a young member of the Wards. The girl was attacked en route to her home. Locating our target quickly is paramount, but we should also be careful to avoid giving her a chance to use her power on us. For the time being, we will be operating with the same protocols and plans that we employ against Hadhayosh. Hit and run, maintain a safe distance as priority number one, and employ continuous attacks. We'll be dividing you into teams-"
Miss Militia stopped short as an officer pushed his way through the people near the door, Chevalier included. He handed Miss Militia a phone.
She turned around and pressed a button on the wall. The faux-wooden panels separated to reveal a widescreen television.
It flickered on.
"Her?" Kid Win asked. "That's the class-S threat?"
"She's bigger than she looks," Tattletale commented.
I was disappointed I couldn't see. I tried looking at the screen with my bugs, but they saw only a rectangular glow.
"Quiet," Miss Militia said, "It's a webcam feed. I'm setting it so we'll be transmitting audio only… Hello, Noelle."
"Who is this?" Noelle asked.
"She talks," I heard someone whisper.
"Miss Militia," Miss Militia said, louder.
"The gun woman. Who else is there?"
"Other local heroes," Miss Militia replied.
"Oh. There aren't more? The Undersiders didn't get in touch with you?" Noelle sounded funny. Her voice was hollow, almost disappointed.
"It's just us right now."
"Because I smell more," Noelle said. "Which makes it hard to believe you. But you can lie if you have to."
"You can smell us."
"Not you. But it doesn't matter," Noelle's voice broke. She stopped.
"Are you there?" Miss Militia asked.
"I'm here. I was telling you it doesn't matter. I only called because… I killed her. The space-warper. I'm so bad with the names. So many names for you capes. I only ever paid attention to the powers."
"You killed Vista," Miss Militia said. "Why?"
"Because I could. Because I was hungry, and I'd already used her up. See?"
There was a brief pause, then a number of gasps and breathless words all at once. One of my bugs caught a noise from Clockblocker, deep in his throat.
Grue leaned close, whispered in my ear, "Five Vistas. All but one of them have faces more like masks than skin and muscle. Hard, rigid. Wearing borrowed clothes, not costumes. The fifth one might be taller than I am, and her bones look curved."
I nodded.
There was a thump from the microphone on Noelle's end, presumably as she turned the camera back to herself.
"Just wanted to let you know that. I'm sorry. This isn't like me. It's the stuff that's growing on me. I have my memories, and when I think, it's always my thoughts, but it feels like it's taking over my subconscious, and when it wants something the hormones and adrenaline flood into my body and my brain, so I feel what it feels. Twists the way I think."
"Why Vista?"
"She was alone. And could smell how strong she was. Read about her online, too. Internet was all I had for a long time. Now I've got them. They're pretty obedient, and it's nice to have company. I haven't had any physical contact with anyone for a while, and they like giving me hugs. Except the sixth."
"Sixth," Miss Militia said.
"Not as obedient. She ran off. Gibbering something about killing her family."

Hadhayosh must be another name for Behemoth because Hadhayosh is a land beast in Persian mythology and is equivalent to Behemoth from Hebrew mythology. And HOLY SHIT, Noelle contacted the heroes/Undersiders, telling them that she killed Vista (I don't believe her, since she's so good at strategies, this must be a strategy of hers in order to lower everyone spirits and hopes. Why she doesn't show them Vista's dead body if she isn't bluffing?) and she summoned 6 Vista clones, 5 of them being so...aww, cute

(even if I know that they're controlled by Noelle, they're still cute if they're giving her hugs) and the last one is fucking crazy and violent as she wants to kill Vista family out of blue. I'm gonna call her Psycho Vista. The other 5 will be named Huggles Vistas (1,2,3,4,5) until Noelle or heroes/Undersiders will find other names for them.

Guys, I think that the first thing you should do is to send someone to protect Vista's poor family and stop Psycho Vista from killing those unfortunate souls. Then you'll have to deal with the Huggles Vistas. What the hell do you want, Noelle, btw? Let me guess, she's going to ask heroes to give Undersiders to her so she can have her sweet, sweet revenge. This is NOT something that you'll do, Miss Militia, right? RIGHT?

Miss Militia thrust her index finger toward the door, and the Wards were gone in a flash, running for the stairwell.

"Can we negotiate?" Miss Militia asked, her voice oddly calm given the ferocity of the gesture and the threat against one of her colleagues' family.
"Not really a negotiation… but I can offer you a deal."
"What's the deal?"
"Kill the Undersiders. Or hand them to me so I can torment them before I kill them. You can do it any time you want to. Just… knock them out, or hurt them, or find a way to tell me where they are. If it's a choice between hurting one of you or hurting one of them, I'll hurt them. I promise. If I've taken someone hostage, you probably have a little while before the hostage is dead. Just know that I'll trade you any of my hostages for any Undersider, any time, any situation. When the Undersiders are all dealt with, I'll sniff out and kill all of the clones I've made, then I'll let you try to kill me. Or imprison me. Do whatever. I don't care anymore, because I don't think I'll be me much longer. I don't think I'm even me right now. Not the me I was… I'm rambling.
"They took away my only chance. My only chance to get well. Until they've paid for that, I'm going to make this hard on you, heroes. I don't think I can die, and I don't think I'm that easy to stop in other ways. I'll hunt you down, I'll copy you until you're all used up, let your copies ruin your reputations and your lives, and then I'll eat you. I'll do it to each of you, one by one, until you realize it's easier to go after the Undersiders than to come after me. Give me my revenge, and this ends."

I was right about her wanting Undersiders' flesh and blood. Fuck you, Noelle, Undersiders are not responsible for your fate, Coil never wanted to help you, you stupid girl, he only used you and your teammates without giving you anything back. If you want revenge, try to kill Simurgh, its only her fault for what happened to you, don't blame others. But Noelle is INSANE and not in full control over her powers (she even described her powers as something that partially control the way she's thinking and feeling so I think that she is influenced 50% by her powers and 50% by her our madness and hate for Undersiders) so she can't act like a reasonable being and understand that she never had any chance to be fixed in the first place.

Please, Miss Militia, DON'T listen to this insane irrational woman, don't let her have Undersiders, especially since they can help you and your heroes so much in the upcoming fight. You need them, you can't sell them like this. Besides, you can't trust someone who told you that she killed a CHILD and cloned her without showing any remorse for what she did. :rage:

You just can't trust that she'll stop once she'll have the Undersiders. Noelle is now beyond any self-control and she'll not stop from killing and cloning everyone unless she's forever stopped by other persons.

Hope that Miss Militia is not such a naive person.

Good night and sleep well, my ghouls friends.

AmbarGriss · Nov 1, 2018

Things are starting to heat up. Hihihi.

blackarrow · Nov 4, 2018

Hello, my lovelies. Last time our favorite heroes and villains decided on a truce in order to fight together against a menace almost as scary as any Endbringer: Noelle. Knowing her, I'm sure that Miss Militia will not accept Noelle's request to sacrifice Undersiders in exchange of letting the heroes and civilians to live, because: Undersiders are too important right now from a strategical point of view and only stupid people would believe a crazy mutated woman who said that she already killed a child hero (a thing that I don't believe btw) when she promised that she'll stop her murderous rampage once she'll have the Undersiders at her disposition. And Miss Militia is NOT a stupid woman.

She's not going to sacrifice Undersiders, no matter what Assault probably will tell her (I'm sure that Assault will agree with Noelle and not because he's stupid or mean but because he's blinded by hate). Btw, with the addition of another world-menace, the mysterious Sleeper, who may or may not be parahuman Freddie Krueger, we have now plenty of supervillains roaming around, with the purpose of turning everyone lives in pure hell mostly for shit and giggles that for a more reasonable reason.

We have Endbringers, the rest of S9 members, Nilbog, Sleeper, the THING called Heartbreaker (because I just can't call him a human being), Dragonslayers (I'm sure they'll try to do something really bad to Dragon; maybe they'll be the ones who'll free all psychos from Birdcage), Cauldron (yes, I see Cauldron as a very big menace in the near future and the non-corrupted heroes+ Undersiders having to fight against them), and possible Scion, being influenced by Jack. Lots and lots of supervillains and too few good people who are also strong and brave. I'm convinced that not all these supervillains will be defeated in Worm, this is the reason why there's a second Worm (Ward), because some villains will survive and they have to be stopped in the second part. Maybe Wildbow will create the third part as well, I'll read dozens of parts if he's eager to write that much. Cause I'm in love with Worm universe and I'll never get tired of its awesome characters, awesome superpowers, awesome storytelling and awesome action.

Right, back to....another Interlude. Hmmm...please, be Birdcaged Amelia or Broken Victoria, I miss my favorite Damaged Sisters so much....

Interlude 18 (Donation Bonus #2)

"Water torture," Justin said. "It's what the C.I.A. uses."

"No, please."
Justin shook his head. "What good is begging going to do? There's hardly a point to torture if you want it."
"The victim can aspirate water during water torture," Dorothy commented, as though she were commenting on paint shades. "But I could have been doing it wrong."
"Burning, then. Start on the back, chest and stomach, work our way to the extremities. They say a burn hurts worse than any other pain, inch for inch,"
Justin said. "By the time we work our way to the face, the armpits, or the soles of the feet…"
"Oh god."
"Scarring," Geoff said, looking up from his newspaper. "Chance of infection. He'd be facing as much risk as he would with the water torture. It might even be harder to treat. Harder to explain if we had to go to a doctor."
"Razors?" Justin suggested.
"Razors could work," Dorothy said. "I'm good with a razor."
"Hear that?" Justin asked. "She's good with a razor."
"Please. There has to be another way."
"There are a number of other ways," Dorothy said. "Tearing out your teeth, fingernails and toenails is one. Castration, force feeding, breaking bones, rats, flaying…"
"I meant besides torture."
"Psychological methods," Justin suggested.
"Isolation," Dorothy offered. "Sensory deprivation, intoxicants. Would you like cream in your coffee, Geoff?"
"No thank you, dear."
"The bacon is done. Why don't you two come and eat?" Dorothy offered.
Justin sighed. "Come, Theo."
The boy gave them wary looks as he stood from the armchair and crossed the length of their hotel room. Dorothy had laid out a veritable feast: bacon, eggs, english muffins, toast, french toast, a bowl of strawberries, a bowl of blueberries, and a bowl of fruit salad. There was orange juice and pots of both coffee and tea. She was just setting down a plate of bacon, leaving barely enough room for anyone's plates.
It would have been too much for eight people to eat, but she didn't seem to realize that. She smiled as Justin ushered Theo to the table and sat down. Her clothes were more fit for a job interview than for a fugitive, with a knee-length dress, heels, earrings and makeup. Geoff, like his wife, was too well dressed for the occasion, wearing a button-up shirt beneath a tan blazer, his hair oiled and combed back neatly.
They can't act, Justin thought. They follow their routines like bad actors following a script. A housewife preparing a meal for her family, the husband at the table.

I have no idea who these characters -Dorothy, Geoff and Justin are but I recognize my CINNAMON ROLL BOY Theo and I'm SCREAMING IN JOY because I love him and I missed him.

I'm ok that I don't get an Amelia or Broken Victoria Interlude as long as I get an Theo Interlude. Theo Interludes are like a balm for soul. I guess that these new characters around Theo are not so new, but the real names of parahumans that I already know. Lets see, they must be nazis from Kayden's Pure group. Fucking nazis, man, I always have a very sour taste in my mouth everytime I read about these fuckers. Thanks God that Thero EXISTS otherwise I MIGHT have skipped this Interlude. I'm serious, guys, I don't feel any pleasure reading an entire Chapter/Interlude filled only with people that I HATE both in fiction and real world.

Theo alone made this Interlude liveblog possible. Dorothy and Geoff are married so they can't be Victor and Othala because those Pure members aren't married. They must be Night and Fog then. Justin must be Crusader since the only other male members beside Fog/Geoff are Crusader and Victor. Geoff, keep an fucking eye on your fucking wife, not in your newspaper, because I don't wanna see her nice clothes and the entire kitchen being ruined by her uber-creepy monster form.

The HORROR to share the same house with someone like Dorothy. Also, imagine her having to buy new clothes every fucking day because once her husband (or any other teammate) doesn't pay enough attention to her, her clothes are no more nice and elegant (I highly doubt that her clothes stay the same after she turns into her terror form).

They're talking about...torturing Theo in order to force a trigger event so he can get his powers, right? Gosh, fuck off, you monsters, don't you dare to touch not even a single hair from Theo's head. I don't care if he won't get powers, nobody have any right to torture him. Especially demented people like YOU. :anger:

He'd known that the pair started every day with the same routine, like clockwork. Wake, don bathrobe, and collect a newspaper. Geoff would step into the shower as Dorothy stepped out, and she would be done grooming by the time he was through. Once they were both dressed, they'd head to the kitchen, and Geoff would read the paper while Dorothy cooked.

But always, the details would be off. Things any ordinary person would take for granted were forgotten or exaggerated. Dorothy inevitably prepared too much, because it was harder for her to consider how hungry everyone was and adjust accordingly. Only two days ago, Justin had noted that Geoff would take a few minutes to read the front page of the paper, turn the page, and stop.
Now he couldn't help but notice. It was the same thing every day. For the twenty or thirty minutes it took Dorothy to put everything together and set it on the table, Geoff would stare at the second and third pages of the newspaper.
Justin had asked about the headlines and the articles. Geoff never remembered, because he wasn't reading. He could read, but he didn't. He spent nearly forty minutes in total, every day, like clockwork, doing little more than staring into space, pretending to read.
Put the paper away, it's time to eat, Justin thought. Yes dear. Mmm. Smells delicious.
"Put the paper away, it's time to eat," Dorothy said. She was holding the coffee pot, stepped behind Geoff, putting a hand on his shoulder, and bent down to kiss him on the top of his head. Automatic, without affection.
"Yes, dear. " Geoff said, smiling up at his wife. "Mmm. Smells delicious."
Jesus fuck, they scare me, Justin thought. But he plastered a fake smile of his own onto his face, grabbed one of the oven-warmed plates and served himself.
Theo did much the same at the other side of the table, minus the smile.

Even if he's a nazi bastard, I agree with Justin over this statement. Dorothy and Geoff SCARE ME too with their sociopathic behavior.

These people a freaking nuts, they act like they're robots, not human beings. I don't have anything against them acting like a traditional family (with husband being the head of the house and wife being the homemaker) because its their choice and they feel good like this, besides I understand that they must respect nazi ideology's preferences of traditional family over modern family but their general behavior is SUPER-ABSURD and SUPER-CREEPY.

They're robots and they repeat the same actions and words over and over again, without bothering to bring changes here and there. They're mimicking affection and love, its like they're forced to be a couple, it wasn't their choice. There's affection between Victor and Othala, but there's nothing between Geoff and Dorothy, only a horrifying imitation of normal relationships. I hope...I PRAY that these psychopaths don't have children.

Kayden emerged from one of the bedrooms, her hair still tangled from sleep, wearing a bathrobe. Mousy, shorter than average, looking exceedinglyhuman, she was Dorothy Schmidt's antithesis.

"Aster slept well last night," Justin commented. "Didn't hear her crying."
"She slept through the night. We just have to maintain a routine as we keep moving," Kayden said.
"We were just discussing ways to force Theo's trigger event."
"It'll come on its own," she said. "We have two years."
"One year and eleven months," Theo said.
Kayden glanced at him but didn't respond.
"It should have happened already," Justin pointed out. "It's easier for children with inherited powers, and Theo's the son of Kaiser, who's the son of Allfather. Third generation."
"Maybe I didn't get powers," Theo said, not looking up from his plate.
"Or maybe you've lived a sheltered enough life that you haven't had a reason to trigger," Justin retorted.
"I don't want to get tortured. Physically or psychologically. There has to be another way."
"Torture?" Kayden asked.
"It's one line of thought," Justin said, trying to mask his annoyance. He'd purposefully brought it up while Kayden was out of the room. "We were trying to think of methods that wouldn't leave him unable to fight Jack when the time came."
"No torture. Theo's right. We can find another way."
Justin frowned, "Every day we wait is a day we don't have for training his abilities, and he'll need all of the training he can get."
"Because I have to fight the Slaughterhouse Nine and Jack Slash. And he'll kill a thousand people if I don't," Theo said. "Me and Aster too."
Justin glanced at the boy, saw the white-knuckle grip he had on his knife and fork, looked at Kayden, who had french toast speared on her fork but wasn't raising it to her mouth. She stared off into space as the maple syrup slowly dripped down to the plate below.
She doesn't know what to do any more than we do.
"You come from a good pedigree," Justin commented. "Kaiser was strong enough to rule over the better part of Brockton Bay, as Allfather did before him."

Good that you're against torture too, Kayden. You're the only nazi I can remotely tolerate and only because you're trying to be a good mother for your daughter and your stepson. A good mother in an ocean of very bad and damaged parents. There are many ways for Theo to get his powers than torture. He can suffer an sudden shock or he might discover his powers while he's under great distress or his life is in danger. He's already stressed because he feels like he won't be able to save so many people (including himself and his baby sister) from Jack in almost two years, and maybe this permanent stress is enough for him to trigger.

Its also a stress being near "people" like Schmidts even for a full hour so Theo is already under too much stress. In Theo's place, I wouldn't step inside these "human" nightmares' house not even if they'll offer me money .

Hey, I have an idea. I just watched The Incredibles 2 and I absolutely ADORED Jack-Jack.

D What if Aster will be the one with powers, and not Theo, and she'll get countless of powers but she can't control them because she's still a baby (like Jack-Jack)? Then, when Jack Slash will try to kill her and her brother, she'll instinctively use a very destructive power against him, turning him (and his hairless chest and sharp knives) into ashes?

Theo wants so much to kill Jack but instead his sister will be the true heroine who'll finish his nemesis off, without even being aware of her actions. That will be super-badass and very cool to see if it will happen.

"Which doesn't do us any good if I don't get powers," Theo mumbled.

"If worst comes to worst," Kayden said, "We fight the Slaughterhouse Nine. Night, Fog, Crusader and I. Okay?"
Justin frowned, but he didn't speak.
Theo voiced half the doubts that Justin was keeping silent, "You didn't fight them last time. I'm not saying you were wrong to leave, but-"
"But we didn't fight them then. You're right," Kayden said. "I'd hoped the others would stop them. The heroes, the Undersiders, Hookwolf…"
"And they didn't," Justin said. "Which means we have to assume Jack's going to follow through. That gives us a time limit. Theo needs powers, he needs training, we need to find the Nine, and we need to stop them. What if we went to the Gesellschaft?"
Kayden glanced at the other two who were sitting at the table. Dorothy and Geoff. Neither of the two had reacted to the name of the organization that had created them. Or, at least, they hadn't reacted outwardly.
"I'm more concerned that they'd help the Slaughterhouse Nine if it meant killing a thousand Americans," she said. "And I'm not sure I want Theo to recieve the kind of power they offer."
"If we contacted them through Krieg…" Justin trailed off.
"What?" Kayden asked. She let her knife and fork drop to her plate with a loud clatter. "You think they'd give us assistance with no strings attached? That we could call in a favor with Krieg and they'd give Theo powers, without the follow-up attention?"
"No. No, I suppose not."
"They turn people into weapons," Kayden said. "Then they decide where those weapons are best positioned, for the cause. There's two good reasons why they wouldn't have given fresh orders to Night and Fog since the Empire collapsed. Either they can't get in touch with us-"
"I somehow doubt that."
"Or Night and Fog are forgotten. Presumed dead or ignored," Kayden finished. "In which case we don't want to remind them that we're still around."
"I somehow doubt that, as well," Justin said. "They have to know we're alive."
"Then what? Why leave these two in my care?"
"Because it serves their agenda," Justin answered. He finished off his plate, spooned some blueberries onto the side, and poured himself some orange juice.
"What agenda?"
"The Empire fell. The Chosen fell. Only Kayden Anders and her Pure remain. If they hope to retain any foothold in the Americas, it'll be through you."
"I don't want to give them a foothold in the Americas."
"By the sole fact that you exist, you're giving it to them. Your reputation, your success, it gives the Gesellschaft the opportunity to say, their cause is being furthered in the West. Even if your goals and theirs are only aligned in abstract. So they leave Night and Fog in your care, because it keeps you dangerous, it helps ensure your success, and maybe because it gives them a way to strike at you if they decide you're a danger to the cause."
Kayden glanced at Dorothy, studying Night's civilian appearance.

So, this Gesellschaft is basically like a Nazi Cauldron. They give powers to nazis, turning them into their personal weapons. Or maybe they can't create powers like Cauldron but they have their ways to force trigger events in people. Now I understand why Dorothy and Geoff are so freaking insane and weird. Because they're broken and brainwashed by Gesellschaft possible even from their childhood.

Now I feel bad for them but I still hate them because of the obvious reasons. Fuck this global nazi organisation Gesellschaft, Kayden, don't allow them to do to Theo what they did to Schmidts. Don't sacrifice your stepson to stop Jack. Better fight yourself along with your team against Jack than to turn Theo into an automaton monster similar with Dorothy and Geoff.

"More coffee?" Dorothy asked, smiling.

"God, yes," Kayden muttered. She held out her cup for a refill.
"What about you?" Theo asked.
Justin turned to look at the boy. "Who? Me?"
"Where do you stand, with the cause?" Theo asked. Justin didn't miss the inflection at the end.
"I'm a simple man," Justin said, smiling. "I like steak and potatoes. I like a good fight, a serious game of baseball or football. American football. I like a good woman's company-"
Kayden cleared her throat. When Justin met her eyes, she was glaring at him. Not jealousy, more of a mother bear protecting her cub.
Justin smiled a little, more with one side of his mouth than the other. "-And I believe that they are fucking things up, out there. And the rest of the world's letting them."
"People with different colored skin."
"People with differences," Justin said. "Faggots, gimps, mongoloids. Kaiser got that. I talked to him one on one, and he had the right ideas. He got that America is ours, that they're polluting it over time, letting these people in. But he was too focused on the big picture, and he was working with the Gesellschaft, which was way too big picture for my tastes. Still, birds of a feather. I worked under him because I wasn't about to find others elsewhere, and I didn't feel like going it alone. Then he introduced me to Purity."

This Interlude makes me scream: DON'T DARE TO TORTURE THEO or FUCK THE NAZIS and nothing else. Its filled with such unpleasant people...Justin, fuck you with a super-hot iron cross, you disgusting simulacrum of a human being. :rage:

You hate people because they're "different", but you're WORSE than the worst "faggot", "gimp" or "mongoloid". You're a piece of shit who deserve nothing more but to be stabbed hundreds of times by Jack then serve as Bonesaw's example of pure art. I will seriously enjoy if Jack will kill you all (except for Theo, Aster and Kayden...because you can't let the baby without her mother

) because you deserve to have a taste of what you're doing to other people who don't correspond to your racial ideology. And Kayden still believes that she's turning the world into a better place. Kayden, you'll turn the world into a better place only if you'll kill "people" like Justin, like Dorothy, like Geoff...this is what I call the world being a better place.

No, but seriously, Schmidts makes me run away with their general creepiness and Justin makes me RAGE so much and wait impatiently for his death. Poor Theo, the thought that such a polite and compassionate boy have to deal with these "people" make my skin crawl like hundreds of WORMS are wriggling under it.

Theo glanced at his onetime stepmother.

"And I think we're more in sync, Kayden and I," Justin said. "If Kaiser was the visionary, the guy on top, the guy with the dream, working to achieve something over decades, then Purity's the detective working the streets. And that's the kind of simple thinking I can get behind."
"So you don't support the Gesellschaft?" Theo asked.
"I can't support what I don't understand," Justin said. "And what I dounderstand is that we need to give you your trigger event before it's too late. Because Jack and his gang of psychopaths are the sort of freaks I can't stand, and I'll be fucked if we let him beat you on this count. They don't get to beatus, and you're one of us."
Theo drew in a deep breath, as if he was going to say something, and then heaved it out as a sigh, slow and heavy.
"Whether you like it or not," Justin added, just under his breath.
Theo glanced at him. He hadn't missed the comment.
At a normal volume, Justin said, "You're vetoing the torture, where we'd be trying to get him to a trigger state in a safe, controlled environment. We need another game plan."
Kayden sighed. "For now? We'll let Dorothy clean up. Have you two done your morning sparring?"
Justin shook his head.
"Give Theo some training while I shower, then you two can wash up. Get dressed to go out. I have one idea regarding Theo's trigger event."
Justin stood with a plate in hand, but Dorothy was already walking around the table, her heels clicking on the tile. She took the plate from him, smiling.
"Come on, then," Justin urged the boy. "Let's see how much of it's sinking in."
"Not much," Theo said.
"Probably not," Justin replied. He reached for his power and stepped out of his body, a spiritual mitosis. A ghostly image of himself, wearing the same clothes, crossed the 'living room' of the space the hotel had given them. He created two more replicas of himself, one walking until its legs were sticking through the couch.
"Four against one?" Theo asked.
"You think the Nine are going to play fair? Now, do you remember priority one?"
"Self defense."
"Protection comes first, always. The core of any martial art or self defense. Perception's second. Know what's going on, because it'll help you protect yourself, and it'll help you identify the right moment to strike. Arms up. Let's see your stance."
Theo raised his arms in the ready position, positioned his feet further apart.
Justin looked the boy over. He'd lost a little weight, though he wouldn't look much skinnier if he kept exercising like he was. He'd put on muscle, and look just as bulky, at least for a while.
But that stance…
Justin suppressed a sigh. Those one thousand people are fucked.

If someone like Justin doesn't support Gesellschaft then I can imagine how BAD these assholes are. They're more like Nazi S9 than Cauldron. Imagine S9 being nazi on top of everything and you'll get Gesellschaft. Actually S9 have a nazi as their new member so this comparison is not too far- stretched. "Cool", more supervillains who might appear during Worm or its continuation and ruin our heroes/sympathetic villains' lives. Like there are not enough supervillains.

Like you care about those one thousand people, Justin....stop pretending you care about them. What if there are "niggers" or "faggots" among them? Jack will actually do you a favor, be grateful to him. But maybe Justin CARES about Theo and Aster in his own way and he doesn't want to see them dying. Or maybe he's just pissed because Theo is such a "pussy" and not only that he doesn't support nazi ideology and doesn't have powers but he also sucks at fighting. He must be disappointed that Theo doesn't have anything in common with his dad (except for his looks), a man that Justin admired so much and followed with a blind devotion. He probably wanted for Theo to become a second Kaiser and his hopes crumbled when he realized the "sad" reality. I think this is how Justin thinks for real rather than actually having paternal feelings for Theo.

"Harvard," Justin said.

"This way," Kayden said. She had Aster in a harness, the baby's head resting against her chest.
"You know your way around Harvard? Color me impressed."
"I looked it up online. This way. I'd rather not spend too much time in public."
Justin noted the crowd of older teenagers and twenty-somethings. It was summer, but the school wasn't empty. With the warmth of summer, the students were wearing shorts and short sleeves, as well as short dresses. Justin smiled at a group of girls as they passed by. One of them looked over her shoulder at him, gave him a glance that roved from head to toe and back up again.
"Justin," Kayden said, raising her voice.
"Coming," he said. Damn.
They made their way across the campus. Dorothy and Geoff had stayed behind, leaving Kayden, Justin and Theo to carry out the errand with Aster in tow.
They reached a tower, built to match the other buildings of the campus. Justin held the door for Kayden and Theo, pausing to note the lettering across the entrance: 'Dept. Parahuman Studies'.
Fitting. Kayden's plan was clear, now.
They entered the elevator, and Kayden checked a slip of paper, hit the button for the ninth floor. She tucked it into a pocket behind Aster's back, then kissed her sleeping daughter on the forehead as the doors closed.
"We should get in and out fast," Justin commented.
Kayden pursed her lips.
"Always have to consider that someone made us, and that they're calling the authorities."
"I know," she said.
"Fuck Coil," Justin snarled.

Yes, Justin, fuck Coil, a thousand of times Fuck Coil. But, do you see the problem here? Coil is dead, his brains are serving now as food for seagulls (the only good thing that Coil ever did in his life

) but you, Justin, you're still breathing and this is a problem that I hope it will be solved as soon as possible. Hmmm, 'Dept. Parahuman Studies...I guess that they want an expert opinion about how to trigger Theo without torturing him. The other solution is to buy powers from Cauldron but maybe they don't know about them or they don't want to remain indebted to them- besides, I doubt that Cauldron posts ads in newspapers sounding like:
Cauldron, a very legal super-secret organisation- maker of powers.
Powers at convenient prices or for FREE, if you agree to do us few harmless favors.
Vials with powers of superior quality. Don't miss this unique chance, ladies and gentlemen.
If you start to turn into a monster then isn't our fault. This is what we call side effects and they're happening pretty often, but not exactly so often, so you don't have to worry.
Maybe you'll be the lucky one.

But anyway, time to learn more about powers and parahumans...but next time because this Interlude is pretty long and I can't finish it all tonight.
Btw, I'm AWARE that this Interlude is from Justin's POV, I'm not that stupid, but for the peace of my mind, I prefer to consider it a Theo Interlude rather than Justin Interlude.

Good night and sleep well, my friends.

blackarrow · Nov 4, 2018

AmbarGriss said:
Things are starting to heat up. Hihihi.

But the REAL question is: how my little heart will handle the cuteness of the Huggles Vistas? I think they'd be so adorable. In an evil way.

blackarrow · Nov 5, 2018

Hello, people I love. Time for the second part of ~~Justin Interlude~~ Theo Interlude. Let's see if we can find out more about powers since our Merry Band of Racist Psychos decided to ask for professional opinion about how to help Thero with his little problem involving not getting powers before his expected confrontation with Jack. I seriously want for Aster to get powers instead of Theo, that would be such a cute little twist that not even Jack will expect.

Jack always plans things and he's prepared for everything, what if something will not work according to his plans and he'll be completely taken by surprise, not knowing how to fight back against something that he didn't predicted? Ok, let's try to finish this Interlude

Interlude 18 (Donation Bonus #2)

Kayden glared at him, and her eyes and hair both glowed with a trace of light. Some free strands of hair lifted as the light touched them, as if they were buoyant, or as if Kayden was underwater and slowly sinking. "Watch your language around Aster."

"She doesn't understand."
"But she will, one day. Get in the habit now."
Justin sighed. "Will do. We going in hard or soft?"
"You could rephrase that. But this is a soft entry."
"Right."
They departed the elevator as it reached the ninth floor. Kayden double checked the slip of paper, and they began the process of figuring out where the room was. It wasn't intuitive, as the rooms didn't seem to be numbered sequentially.
They stopped at one door that was labeled '914', with a nameplate below reading 'Dr. Wysocki'.
"What the hell kind of name is Wysocki? Polack?"
"He's one of the top researchers on Parahumans," Kayden said. "The best in the Massachusetts area."
"You're the boss, and it's your call," Justin said, shrugging. "Just saying I pointed it out in advance."
"What difference is it going to make?" Theo asked. "Doesn't make any difference to his ability to do his job."
"So cute," Justin said. He gave Theo a pat on the cheek, and the boy pushed his hand away in irritation.
Kayden knocked, and the door swung partially open.
A young man, no older than twenty-five, hopped out of his swivel chair, pulling earbuds from his ears. "Ah. Hi?"
"We had a few questions," Kayden said.
"I've never had a student bring their family before."
"We're not students," Kayden said. She strode into the room, and Justin gave Theo a push on the shoulder to prod him forward. When everyone was inside, he closed the door and stood with his back to it.
"Huh. I thought I recognized you, would have been from class," the man said.
"We're not students," Justin echoed Kayden's words. His tone didn't have the intimidating effect he'd hoped for. The young man's forehead was wrinkled in concerns of a different sort.
"You're not here for the office hours? Figures. I sit around for three hours twice a week, five straight weeks, someone finally shows and they aren't a student."
"You're Wysocki?" Justin asked.
"No," the young man gave him a funny look. "You're really not students. I'm the T.A. Filling in while he's at an event. Peter Gosley."
He extended a hand, but nobody accepted it.
"Fuck," Justin said. "This is a waste of time."
"If you have questions…" Peter trailed off, letting his hand drop.
"Trigger events," Theo said, his voice quiet.
Peter's eyes fell on the boy, widening slightly. "You have powers? You just got them?"
"I need them," Theo answered.
Peter gave them a funny look. "I… I'm not sure I understand."
"Tell us what you know about trigger events, and perhaps we'll explain," Kayden said.
"I… that's a broad field. What do you want to know?"
"How to have one," Theo said.
"Trust me, there isn't a single government out there that isn't trying to pull it off. None have had much success with the various methods they've tried. Not to the point that anyone else has been able to copy their methodology. If anyone was succeeding, it'd be off the radar. Maybe the Protectorate."
"What methods have they tried?" Justin asked. "The governments."
"Anything? Everything. Drug induced panic attacks. Kidnappings. Torture. Some with willing participants, some even with participants in the dark. The Queensland Trials-"

Agree with Kayden, stop cussing around baby Aster, Justin, don't teach her bad words at such a fragile age. Kayden is so damn patient with you, but you're useful to her team with your ghost clones and maybe this is the reason why she puts up with you. Plus you both have the same repulsive beliefs. :sour:

Hello, Peter, the assistant expert in Parahumans. Nice to know you. Be careful with what you'll tell them, these people are not exactly model citizens and if they don't like something, they might become pretty aggressive with you. I'm surprised that people aren't aware of Pure's civilian identities since Coil took care for everyone to find out who they're behind their masks and codenames. But maybe Peter doesn't like too much to watch the news.

As for people being kidnapped by their own governments to go through forced trigger events, I'm not surprised at all to know that this thing happens. There are examples in our real world about governments being behind a lot of "mysterious" disappearances or experiments. The light of "democracy" shines everywhere, no matter how the respective Earth is called, Aleph, Bet, our Earth...

"Stop," Kayden said. Peter stopped. "Participants in the dark? And nothing worked?"

"It sometimes worked, a lot of stuff sometimes worked. The problem is, the act of getting a trigger event tends to throw a controlled situation into disarray. A government or organization pours hundreds of man hours and half a million dollars into identifying people who might be parahumans, by whatever metric they're using, tracking them, covertly acquiring them, and inducing the parahuman state… and it'd work one in two hundred times. Half of thosetimes, they'd wind up with a parahuman in an agitated state and things would fall apart. So a lot of the successes end up being failures of a diffferent sort."
"But they haven't found a consistent way of getting people to trigger?" Kayden asked.
"No. Fact is, it's harder when you're trying to provoke a trigger event. Even if the participant doesn't know you're trying it."
"Why?" Kayden asked.
Peter shrugged. "There's theories. There's the specific trigger theory, which suggest that each individual demands a particular kind of trigger event, so any attempts to force it are essentially attempting the wrong form of trigger. There's the specific circumstance theory, which is different, because it suggests that it's not just a particular type of trigger that's demanded, but the specific time or event."
"You're saying it's predestined," Justin said.
"Some scholars say it's predestined. I don't. Um. Other theories… there's intelligent intervention."
"Phrase it in American fucking English," Justin said.
"There's no need for rudeness," Peter said. He adjusted his glasses and frowned at Justin.
"Please phrase it in American fucking English," Justin clarified.
"Please explain," Kayden said, shooting Justin a look.
"It means there's someone or something that's deciding who gets powers and when. There's subtheories… Aesthetic analogue, where they're saying the powers tend to relate to the trigger event somehow, so obviously someone's doing it on purpose. Uh. Intelligent powers, where they say the powers are sentient and they're making the call on their own. Ties into other areas of study, and it's a favorite of mine. There's the-"

If someone will ever try to wash Justin's mouth out, they'll need to spend a FORTUNE on soaps and still won't be enough. :lol At least he said "please" which is an improvement (yes, I know that there are a lot of characters in this story who cuss but at least they're not doing it in front of a baby).
Peter's explanation about powers make me think at a theory (not a shit-theory, but a serious one this time

) about the reasons behind aliens' willingness to give humans' powers. What if those powers are actually some parasites expelled by aliens on Earth, parasites that enter inside human brains, creating the organ called Corona Pollentia and allowing people to develop a certain kind of superpower? Maybe these parasites are aliens' babies who are can develop and mature only if they feed on human's energy (and humans expel this special energy only when they use their powers?) To be more clear: Aliens have babies, they expel their babies on Earth(s) in the form of invisible parasites (since scientists can't see them), they're attracted by someone's trigger event, they install themselves inside the host's brains, they create Corona Pollentia which allow their host to use powers and everytime when the host use their powers, they generate special energy (or special anything else

) which helps the parasites/babies to grow up. Once they're big enough, maybe they'll leave their host and fly back in the space, becoming adult aliens. I'm not sure if my theory makes any sense, but since everyone describe the powers as something alive, with their own intelligence, I can't think at something else than parasites/babies taking control over brains, but letting their host do what they want with the given powers. Creepy, but logical given the context. I have to think more to see if there's a pattern that parasites/babies follow in order to choose their hosts. Another pattern besides trigger events, that's it.

"This isn't helping us," Justin cut in.

"Quiet. Everything helps," Kayden said.
"We're short on time."
Peter gave him a funny look. "Look, I'm not fully understanding what you're getting at. It's great that people are interested in this stuff, but this notion you have that, because your son wants powers, you're somehow going to give him a trigger event? That's a little freaky, it's not really possible. And, uh, it's borderline abuse, if not actual abuse."
"It's a complicated situation," Kayden said. "What else can you tell us about trigger events? Beyond theories?"
"The manner of trigger event seems to impact the powers. That's frosh level stuff. Physical pain, physical danger; physical powers. Mental pain, mental crisis? Mentally-driven powers."
Justin frowned. And being the brother of a dying, half-blind, deaf retard of a girl who got all the attention? All of the gifts, the money? Being made to get surgery for her sake, give up years of my lifespan so she might live? Getting caught pulling the plug, only for it to do little more than set alarms going?

I feel like I'm becoming the Doctor.

This story slowly turns me into the Doctor. No, not the Doctor you're all must be thinking about, but the Doctor Expert in Parahumans.

I don't know how right or wrong I'm with my parasites/babies theory but I'm certain about a thing: I'm becoming better at understanding parahumans and powers in Worm universe than I was a couple of Arcs ago. What a slow but strong development...

OMG, Justin, you're not only a shitty human being and a shitty citizen but you're also a SUPER- SHITTY brother. Instead of taking care of your sister and be ready to accept any sacrifice so she can survive, like any protective big brother (I'd have sacrificed myself if I had a brother/sister because I usually put my family above myself and I love more than I love myself), you're envious on the attention she received and you tried to...kill her?

Oh, Gosh, you're such a huge stain of shit on the face of humankind...Gosh, he wanted to kill his sick sister (before you'll ask me, I agree with euthanasia ONLY if the patient's life can't be saved anymore despite doctors' best efforts; or if they're in constant pain/ in a irreversible vegetative state) but his sister was saved- thanks to the surgery- and she might live now like any other girl with mental deficiencies and deaf. She's an innocent person who must have the right to live, despite all odds. Now I understand why he triggered and hates people who are "different" so much. Because he hated his "different" sister and everytime when he sees a "different" person, he projects his sister image over that person.

I'll tell you something, idiot. Every "different" person, no matter if they're blind, deaf, retard or paraplegic, have the RIGHT to live and be treated with all due respect, UNLIKE "people" like you. Fuck you and your shitty ideology, Justin. :rage:

Was his power really a mental power? He'd always considered it more physical.

He looked at Kayden, studied her concerned expression.
Peter was still talking, responding to something Kayden had said. "Drugs tend to create conditional powers. It's not hard and fast, but you get situations where the power is directly linked to one's physical, mental or emotional state. We think it's because the power works off a template it builds as the powers first manifest. If someone is riding an emotional high as they trigger, their powers will always be looking for a similarly excited state to operate at peak efficiency, often an emotion or drugs. When people were caught trying to fabricate trigger events, sometimes they were intending to use this so the subject would be more easily controlled."
"I wonder if lack of food and water could create similarly conditional powers," Kayden commented.
"I'm… are you talking about starving him?" Peter's eyes were wide now.
"Not at all. I'm… speculating."
Justin could follow her train of thought. He'd heard the story through the Empire's grapevine, once. A sixteen year old girl, driving for the first time, down a side road, getting in an accident where her car rolled off the road, out of sight of anyone passing by. Trapped… starving, dying of thirst.
Getting powers that fed off and required other resources. Light.
He glanced at her, and she offered him a curt nod. Without speaking, they'd come to a mutual agreement that this 'Peter' knew what he was talking about.
"What's the impact of being the child of a parahuman?" she asked.
"Um. I love that you're interested, and yeah, I wasn't really doing anything, but maybe if you have this many questions, you should take a class?"
"He's the son of a parahuman," Kayden said, pointing at Theo.
Cat's out of the bag now.
"No kidding? Wow. Who?"
"Kaiser," Kayden said.
Peter's eyes widened as he looked at Theo. Then something seemed to click, and he looked up at Kayden and Justin with a note of alarm in his expression.
"Yeah," Justin said. "Smart man, and you're only figuring it out now?"
"I saw the stuff on the news. Thought I recognized you. Purity and…"
"Crusader. So maybe now you understand we're serious. And how we're notinterested in taking a class," Justin said.
"If he's Kaiser's son, and Kaiser's Allfather's son… he's third generation."

PLOT TWIST! Peter does read the news. He realizes that he's in deep shit if he doesn't come up with suggestions that will make Kayden and Justin happy (btw, where the hell the Horror Couple is? I know that Dorothy and Geoff accompanied Kayden, Justin, Aster and Theo to Harvard but I have no idea where they're right now. Maybe they're outside, keeping an eye over the possible troubles) Kayden was so close to die if it wasn't for her powers that helped her to survive (it looks like she triggered and then she was able to escape from her car wreckage and fly away). You got a second chance at life, Kayden, but sadly you don't allow other people to have the same chance. You didn't learn anything from your near-death experience.

"And he doesn't have powers," Kayden said. "It's crucial that we fix that."

"I… I don't really know. It's supposed to be ten times easier to get powers if you're second generation. But we don't have research on third generations yet. It's only pretty recently that we had the first third-generation cape on record. The baby in Toronto."
"Didn't hear about that," Kayden said. She frowned. "A baby?"
Peter's eyes fell on Aster. "Oh. Wow. Is she third generation too?"
"Pay attention," Justin said.
"The… yeah. Each successive generation seems to produce younger capes, by lowering the barrier to entry, the severity of the requisite trigger event."
"So why haven't I triggered?" Theo asked.
"I don't know. There's a lot we don't know. Maybe… maybe you don't have powers."
"I have to."
"It's a question of luck."
"You don't understand. If I don't get powers, a lot of people will die."
"I'm not sure I follow."
"It doesn't matter," Justin said. "Give us all the information you have. Every way you've heard about people trying to trigger, and how well they worked."
"That's a six month lecture series unto itself!"
"Talk fast," Justin said.
"Um. There's meditation. Either to tap into your deeper psyche or to tear down the walls between yourself and your worst fears. There's theories that the powers themselves are intelligent, and they're worked into the host's head, before or after the trigger event. Sometimes the meditation's related to that, but it's usually people trying to have a second trigger event."
"That's not relevant to the boy, is it?" Justin asked.
"The research is related! There's a lot of research into second trigger events because it's a lot easier to find willing parahumans than it is to find potentialparahumans. The methods that people try tend to be similar, too. It's just… a lot of the time, they fail for opposite reasons."
"Opposite?" Kayden asked.
"It's not confirmed, it's just an idea, but the idea the powers are sentient? Well, either the second trigger event opens up communication, frees the powers to act on their own more, or if you don't buy that stuff, it breaks down the mental barriers between the altered part of the brain that controls the powers and the part that doesn't. At least, that's going by the patterns we've seen. Except… well, we think sometimes the reason people can't have a second trigger event is because they've already had one. You can't really distinguish a single trigger event from having two in quick succession."

The more Peter explains about powers the more I'm sure that my parasites/babies theory will turn out to be the right one.

I remember that Bonesaw called them Passengers so she agrees with my theory too. And Bonesaw is an evil genius who know much more than me so...who I'm to contradict her? I'm gonna call these alien parasites babies Passengers too. The Passengers are attracted by people who triggered in violent surroundings/situations. They're attracted by violent people/people who were abused. Justin tried to kill his sister (he was a violent person in the moment of triggering). Kayden fought to survive to a horrible accident (she was trapped in a scary situation). Taylor was bullied (she was abused). Rachel was a feral child before triggering and her power helped her to protect what she loved the most on the world- dogs. Except for Case 53 people and the ones who inherited powers from their parents+ the ones that I still don't know their trigger events, everyone triggered while trapped in a violent/scary situation. Passengers are attracted by violence/abuse/people with mental problems because these people will use their powers more often (getting involved in fights more than peaceful/sane persons) thus helping Passengers to feed/grow/become adults. Well, there are exceptions: Paige and Sabah are the least violent people in the story so far. BUT...they use their powers in their everyday jobs: Sabah to create toys for kids and Paige to sing better. They use their powers and this is what that matters for Passengers. The Passengers "demand" from their hosts to use their powers- they don't care if their hosts fight or are just doing their everyday jobs as long as they feed their parasites.
If this theory (these theories) will prove to be entirely right, I'm gonna LOVE Worm more than I already love it.

This would be the most original and plausible (because I believe in aliens and I'm convinced that- if it will be necessary for them, one day they'll not hesitate to use us in a way or another) explanation for superpowers I've heard.

"Like a multiple orgasm," Justin commented. Kayden glared at him.

"More or less. There's more parallels than that, but yeah."
"Crusader is right, this isn't helping him," Kayden said.
"What kind of trigger events did Kaiser and Allfather have?"
Kayden and Justin exchanged glances.
"No idea," Kayden said, frowning.
Peter frowned. "That would have helped. At least we know they both had similar powers. Allfather could conjure iron weapons from the air immediately around himself, send them flying. Kaiser could call metal out of any solid surface. Both are the kind of powers you'd see from almost purely mental trauma. If the trend continues…"
He trailed off, leaving the sentence hanging. Theo would probably require mental trauma to trigger.
"Hard to imagine Kaiser having mental trauma. He seemed so confident," Kayden said.
"His dad was Allfather. Not so hard to imagine," Justin replied, absently. He thought of the college girls and stepped over to the window, curious if he'd be able to make out any from this high up. He froze.
"Kayden," he said.
"What?"
"Cops. And containment vans."
"Someone made us?" Kayden asked.
"And saw us enter the building," Justin finished. "They're surrounding us on the ground.
"Shit!" Kayden swore.
Aster whimpered, then started crying.
Didn't you tell me to watch my language in front of Aster? Justin thought.
Theo was sitting in a swivel chair, hands clasped in his lap, his eyes watching Kayden, waiting for her cue.
Justin noted the tension of Theo's grip, the way he seemed to retreat into himself. The fat little boy who was nothing like Kaiser. Maybe he hadn't inherited powers at all because he wasn't his father's son. If his mother had cheated on Kaiser, gave birth to this pudgy blob, it would explain why he didn't have powers. It would mean he wasn't a second generation cape, let alone a third.
"Hmm." Justin watched more PRT vans arrive. They were spreading out, clearly anticipating Kayden's artillery-level attacks, and they had the damn foam-bead nets they used for dealing with fliers. "Theo, who's your mom?"
"Heith."
Justin sighed. Heith was Fenja and Menja's cousin and guardian, Kaiser's first wife, killed in a turf war with the Teeth, back in the old days of Brockton Bay. She has powers after all.
Somehow, all of this would be easier if he could believe that Theo was illegitimate.
"Crusader," Kayden said, "Can you stall them? We have more questions."
He nodded, shut his eyes, and drew on his power.
It was as simple as stepping forward while staying in the same place. A ghostly phantom appeared, followed by another, and another. One headed for the elevator shaft, while the other headed for the stairwell. He directed the remainder to sink through the floor.
"What else can you tell us? Something we can use," Kayden said.
"If the authorities are here, I don't know if I should say."
"You should," Justin said. "Because we'll hurt you if you don't."
"Don't," Theo said.
Justin gave the boy his best dispassionate look.
"He's been helpful," Theo said.
"He hasn't solved your problem," Justin said. He was dimly aware of his other selves engaging with the enemy as they moved into the building. One fought them in the stairwell, immune to any strike or bullet, yet fully capable of pushing a man down the stairs, into the people behind him, fully capable of strangling a man.
Peter shifted positions nervously. His voice rose in pitch as he spoke, "I don't know what you want. I can't give you an answer because there aren't any!"
"Think," Justin suggested.
"You expect me to do in five minutes what the best scholars in the world haven't figured out in thirty years?"
"Well put," Justin said. More clones were still splitting off, breaking away from himself to sink through the floor. Some had moved beyond the building to attack the men who were manning the turrets on top of the van. With luck, he and Kayden would be free to fly to safety with the children.
"This… this is insane! What am I supposed to tell you? I've outlined some of the best theories we have!"
"If it helps," Justin said, leaning towards Peter, "I'm going to kill you if I don't leave here satisfied. Think about that."
"Kayden," Theo said, "You're not going to let him, are you?"
"Crusader," Kayden said. "Is that really necessary?"
"I can't even think straight under this pressure!" Peter cried.
"I imagine you feel very similar to someone about to have a trigger event," Justin said. "Maybe that will inspire something or fill in the blanks for some half- baked idea you had once."
"I don't… There's isolation."
"An isolation chamber?" Justin asked.
Peter shook his head. "No. More basic. It's a common trend. People who have trigger events, they don't usually have a good support system. Their family, their friends, they tend to fail them, or be the cause of the problem. I… I wrote a paper a while back about how Masters tend to have loneliness as part of their trigger events, and how maybe that was why Masters tend to be villains. Because you need support and social pressure to be more of a good guy. My professor then, the guy who I work for now, Dr. Wysocki, he tore me to pieces. Too many other parahumans have it as part of their history. Isolation. It wasn't enough to suggest a correlation. He said you could call it a common theme for nearly all of the trigger events out there."
Justin was in the middle of creating another ethereal copy of himself when he stopped. It snapped back into place. He thought back to something earlier in the day.
"Kayden, let's go."

I think I understand what Justin is planning to do. He's going to abandon Theo so he'll be taken into heroes' custody because he knows that Theo loves his sister and his step-mother and if he'll be far away from his little family, he'll be under so much stress that he'll trigger and get his....METAL BENDING powers (do you know what kind of powers I want for Theo to have? Powers like Magneto from X-men -magnetism manipulation- and to make the Manton Effect his bitch. I want him to go almost insane with too much power but still remain the same sweet and polite boy he always was. An OP vigilante parahuman Theo with a heart of gold is one of the things I want to happen the most in this story

) Honestly, I agree with Justin if he'll do what I suppose he'll do. Theo will suffer after his sister (especially) for a while until he'll eventually trigger (or not) then he'll be more happy living among heroes than nazis villains. Its like taking him from a hostile and degenerative environment and putting him into a much more better and safer environment. Heroes will not hurt him (especially since he's not a parahuman who actively fought against heroes/injured/killed people) and his life will be so different compared with the actual life. I wish a new, different life for Theo, with people who'll like and appreciate him for his behavior than the nazis who are disgusted by him because he's not a monster like them.

"What?"

"I've got our answer. Let's go."
"Are you sure?"
Justin nodded.
"To the roof?" she asked.
"As fast as you can move with the baby."
Kayden rose into the air, her hair and eyes lighting up.
"Come on, Theo," Justin said, "I'll carry you."
He spawned a ghostly replica as Kayden left the office. Theo hesitated as the replica got closer.
"What's wrong?" Justin asked.
"What he just said… You're going to leave me. Isolate me."
"Yeah," Justin said. His ghost-self lunged, and Theo threw himself back with such force that he fell over in the chair. The ghost was on him in a second, pinning him down to the floor with one hand around his throat.
"Don't. You heard what he said. If you force it, it won't happen," Theo protested, his voice barely above a wheeze with the hold the ghost had on his neck.
"I'm willing to take that chance. In the worst case scenario, you're theirproblem, not ours. The heroes can look after you and figure out what to do with you."
"Justin! Crusader!" Theo managed a strangled scream, but Justin was already in the doorway, not even pausing or hesitating at his words. "It won't work if you try to make it happen!"
Justin left Theo behind, stepped into the stairwell, noting a gap between the stairs that was big enough to fly between. He created a clone and left it overlapping his body, using its flight to lift himself into the air.
Kayden hadn't flown for safety yet. She was waiting on the rooftop, Aster writhing in the harness, screaming bitterly.
"Fly," he said.
"Where's Theo?"
"Would you believe me if I said he was coming?"
He could see her expression shift in time with the realization. "You didn't."
"I did. And you won't go back for him."
"Like hell I won't. He saved Aster when Jack was going to kill her, he might have saved me in the process. I owe him-"
"-And we're paying him back by leaving him."
"No. No, we aren't."
"He's one of our own, kind of. I get that. But… he was never going to help the cause."
"The cause," Kayden spat the word.
"Purifying the world, cutting out the rot, becoming a symbol of better things. It's not him."
"He's my stepson."
"And isn't that the problem? Remember this morning, at breakfast? He was worried he wouldn't get powers. That he wouldn't be able to stop Jack. And how did you respond? You reassured him. You told him we'd fight the Nine if he couldn't."
Kayden only glared, eyes shining with painful brightness.
"When you said that, part of me, I thought we didn't fight the Nine then, how could we two years from now? Theo said it outright. He's sharper than he looks sometimes. Sharper than he acts. But here's the thing, at the same time, a part of me felt like I'd realized something, and it took me until now to get it sorted in my head."
"What?"
"You're reassuring him, when that's the last thing we want. When there's a crisis, he looks to you. The most basic requirement for a trigger event is you get to a point where you can't go anywhere. Pushed to your limit and then pushed further. He can't get there so long as we're there as a safety net. As a support system."
"So we're supposed to abandon him?"
"We just did," Crusader said. "The authorities are just getting to the ninth floor now, my clones are letting 'em by. By the time we got there, they'd have him secured, and they'd be ready to spray us with that foam."
"You could use your power, disable them without any risk."
"I could. But I won't."
Kayden flared with light, and for a second, he thought she was going to shoot him.
The blast of solid light didn't come.
Justin sighed, "He'll be hurt, he'll be pissed, and he'll be alone. They'll quiz him on us, get every detail they can, and if I know him at all, it'll tear him up, because he might not like us, but we're the closest thing he's got to family…"
Kayden glanced toward the door.
"…And that's the best thing we can do for him right now," he finished.
"I never was the mom he needed," Kayden said.
"Well, it's too late now."
She walked over to the roof's edge, peered down. "Any net launchers?"
"Nobody to aim them now. Everyone's fighting my doubles."
She glanced back toward the door, absently cooed for Aster to stop crying.
There was a flash of light. By the time it cleared away, she was merely a glinting speck in the distance.
He glanced at the door, then flew after her.
Up to you and you alone now, boy, he thought.

I HATE Justin but I definitely AGREE with his gesture of abandoning Theo to heroes.

He'll never be alone (he was alone while staying with his nazi family- his father only wanted to use him, his mother cared for Aster more than for him- but I won't judge Kayden here because its normal for a mother to love her own child more, Justin is disgusted by his unwillingness to follow nazi beliefs, Dorothy and Geoff are robots without feelings. I don't know what kind of relationship Theo have with Rune, Othala and Victor but after seeing how fanatics all of them are I'm sure that they don't like Theo too much either), he'll be surrounded by mostly good people who'll accept him and will see and admire his heroic side and will become the family he never actually had for real. Good decision, Justin, Theo is now free to become a HERO

(even if I prefer for him to become rather a vigilante than a goody-two-shoes hero; but...who knows what might happen in the future? Only Simurgh knows but she won't tell me anything because she's a bitch like this. Keeping everything for herself).

What a good and optimistic ending for an really annoying (because of most of the characters) Interlude.

Good night and sleep well, my friends.

blackarrow · Nov 6, 2018

Random Lurker said:
I understand the reluctance. I'd suggest reading a Wayback Machine version of the pages, then, using the time frame of one week after the chapter upload date. If not, I'd recommend going back to at least the Leviathan arc and Searching for Psycho Gecko (specifically, there's a famed post about Chubster), and ignoring everything else. It's harder to appreciate his stuff to far after the fact.

I noticed that this Psycho Gecko guy is currently writing a story called World Domination in Retrospect. Its this story good enough for me to read? Have any connection with Worm, like a very long fanfic? I'm kind of interested to read it and I appreciate any information.

KnownParadox · Nov 6, 2018

While Justin is a dick, a medium sized bit of the blame goes to his parents.

Seriously guys? While yes I realize it's a tragedy what happened to your daughter, but you have a son as well jackasses, you don't pick one or the other, you pick all in the game of favourite children.

And then you your daughter needs a transplant, great! There's plenty of people offering parts of their body! Just go down to the hospital an-

What? You force your son, your son, to rip an organ out of his body for her.

Uh alright.... does he consent?

No?

In fact he probably denied it, quite loudly in fact. Maybe even violently. But you did it anyway. Assholes.

Justin gets all the rest of the blame though. Attempted murder is bit beyond the pale jackass.

Honestly all his family (including himself) but the sister sounds like a bunch of fuckups.

AmbarGriss · Nov 6, 2018

KnownParadox said:
While Justin is a dick, a medium sized bit of the blame goes to his parents.

Seriously guys? While yes I realize it's a tragedy what happened to your daughter, but you have a son as well jackasses, you don't pick one or the other, you pick all in the game of favourite children.

And then you your daughter needs a transplant, great! There's plenty of people offering parts of their body! Just go down to the hospital an-

What? You force your son, your son, to rip an organ out of his body for her.

Uh alright.... does he consent?

No?

In fact he probably denied it, quite loudly in fact. Maybe even violently. But you did it anyway. Assholes.

Justin gets all the rest of the blame though. Attempted murder is bit beyond the pale jackass.

Honestly all his family (including himself) but the sister sounds like a bunch of fuckups.

Consedering the people that raised her. I wouldn't be surprised if she ended up as a fuck up as well.

Random Lurker · Nov 6, 2018

blackarrow said:
Interlude 18 (Donation Bonus #2)

Oh, more things to remember to quote after you get to later parts!

blackarrow said:
I noticed that this Psycho Gecko guy is currently writing a story called World Domination in Retrospect. Its this story good enough for me to read? Have any connection with Worm, like a very long fanfic? I'm kind of interested to read it and I appreciate any information.

Honestly, it's all to do with whether you like his brand of humor.

blackarrow · Nov 10, 2018

Hello, my lovelies. Last time we had this Interlude that I personally consider to be the second worst Interlude of the story, after the one with Fenrir's Chosen and Shatterbird fight. Why? Because I dislike all the characters, with 2 exceptions (Theo and Aster) and I usually don't like to read something featuring characters that the only feeling I have for them is impatience to see them dying as quickly as possible.

But the ending was GOOD, an almost perfect ending for such an annoying Interlude. Theo will become a hero and everyone will respect him at his real value, not be angry that he'll never make a "good" nazi or because he's a "pussy". Yes, he'll be sad for a while because he'll not see his sister anymore, but everything will turn positive for him in time.

Now, knowing that Skitter kind of works for heroes, at least given their common problem with Noelle, I imagine her meeting Theo and becoming friends with him. She'll like him because he's such an idealistic and always helpful boy, just like her. Well, he doesn't have her dark side and her ridiculous self-loathing, but this is not a big deal. I imagine her being eager to help Theo with his trigger event and how to use his powers once he'll discover what he can do. They'll be like:
Skitter: I'm going to teach you some very useful things that you need to know in order to be sure that you'll stop Jack.
Theo: Yes, miss Skitter, I'm ready to listen and learn.
Skitter: Just stop calling me "miss". It feels weird.
Theo: But its always good to be polite with people, even with your enemies. This is how I was taught by my father.
Skitter: Ok....do whatever you want. Now, pay attention. First lesson: if you want to be successful in a mission, you have to be ruthless and merciless, and never shy away from torturing people almost to death, even if they're heroes or civilians. Then, don't ever forget to apologize them afterwards, to show them that you're not such a bad person like they believe you to be...
Theo: I...I'm not sure I like your lessons, miss, they're not very helpful....Can you recommend me...other teacher?
Skitter continues without paying him any attention: ...but you can also scare them and let them traumatized for life and they'll never dare to pick another fight with you...
Theo runs away: MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMY!!!
Skitter, puzzled: Did I said something wrong?

Their relationship would be so cute

Queen 18.5

The television screen went dark.

Transmission over. Damage done.
"Well," Tattletale said, "Funny thing is, that was only the second worst thing she could have done to screw us over."
"That so?" asked one male cape I couldn't identify.
"Oh yeah. I was worried she'd disappear for a few days or weeks, leave us to go looking for help. Then we'd look crazy when she didn't show, and whatever concessions we'd made to get you on board would cost us… like how you have us in custody right now. Either she's not as smart as Ballistic implied, or she's feeling some kind of pressure. I'd lay odds she's losing the inner struggle for self-control."
Someone slammed his hands down on the end of the table, interrupting her. I sent bugs in that direction to identify the speaker. "Does it fucking matter?"
My bugs traced his armor. Assault.
"It matters," Miss Militia said.
"This monster killed one of the good guys. One of our best. We let it slide when the Undersiders took Shadow Stalker. We accepted it when the Nine got to Glory Girl and Panacea. When they killed Battery. We let the Undersiders take the Director, and they may have taken the man who'sreplacing her. Are we really going to ignore the most obvious option here?"
"You're saying you want to turn the Undersiders in."
"They broke the code. They'll break it again."

Oh, shut the fuck up, Assault "she quickly borrows Flash's power and runs into the room, hits Assault across his head, pulls him over her shoulders and runs with him straight to Kennedy Space Center, putting him into a space ship and launching him on fucking Moon. Then she returns back, everything done in like 3 seconds". Alright, guys, now you can talk without anyone interrupting you for reasons that have no connection with the plan of defeating Noelle.

Miss Militia, don't you dare to take the wrong decision. No mater how much you dislike Undersiders, you know that you NEED them against Noelle, because she'll never stop even after she'll have them. She's crazy, she's now a monster both outside and inside and her power have some control over her emotions, twisting them in a way that she can't think at something else besides: revenge, death, revenge, death, revenge, death. She's no longer the sweet, friendly Noelle. That person is long time dead.

"And now we're effectively on trial," Tattletale said, "When we should be hunting her down."

"Which may be exactly what she wanted," Grue added.
"You may be giving her too much credit," someone said. I was having trouble keeping track of who was talking. There were too many people in the room, and gathering more bugs would potentially give someone cause to think I was massing a swarm in anticipation of a fight.
Not to say I wasn't. I'd been collecting a swarm, hiding them in shadows and beneath cars. I drew them closer to the building, as surreptitiously as possible.
It was strange, to have more awareness of the world beyond the local PRT headquarters than I had of the room I was currently in.
"Did you miss the part where there were six Vistas?" Tattletale asked. "She's a pain to deal with, trust me. If anything, you're underestimating Noelle."
"I'm forced to agree. Let's not underestimate any opponent," Miss Militia said. "I'm going to put in my recommendation right here, with full knowledge that there are several people present who outrank me, and I will extend my full cooperation if they should decide on a different route. I think we should put old issues aside and accept any assistance the Undersiders are willing to offer.
With what happened with Vista, it's all too apparent how this situation could get out of control, with each of us fighting friends."
She paused, and nobody cut in.
Miss Militia continued, "We treat this situation as we would an Endbringer attack. Our side is smaller than we might hope for, but our enemy is more vulnerable."
She looked to one man, and I realized she was checking with the Deputy Director. Her superior, so to speak.
He offered a single nod.
"I agree," Triumph said. My bugs were still on him, from earlier. "But we'd need you on board, Assault."
Assault was standing, hands still on the table. He didn't respond.
"We can't get the Undersiders on board if they're wondering if we'll backstab them," Triumph said, calm. He wasn't someone I'd anticipated as an ally, here.
"You mean like they backstabbed us during the Leviathan attack?" Assault asked, his voice a growl. "Broke the truce?"
"What?" I couldn't stop myself. My voice sounded so small and feeble, between the recent spell of coughing and the lack of bugs to augment it. I wished I could have conveyed more of a presence. How to word it so it didn't sound like feeble protests? "I think you've been grossly misinformed."
Fuck me, I sounded like Coil.
"Would Battery want you to put your feelings and prejudices before duty and the safety of this city?"
Assault slowly turned to Miss Militia. "You want to play that card?"
"I'll play it. And if the Undersiders decide to play it fast and loose with the rules again, I'll be right there beside you, ready to see them answer for it."
"We've talked about that before. Nothing came of it," Assault said.
"This time," Miss Militia said, "Given precedent, the stakes and the dangers posed by villains unwilling to follow the written and unwritten rules of the cape community, I'd be willing to argue and testify for a kill order."
I felt a chill.

A kill order? This is...BETTER than I expected. Miss Militia took the same decision that I would have taken myself. Come on, Skitter, a kill order is much better than being eaten alive and cloned by an insane parahuman. Anyway, once the heroes will be content with your help, they can simply lift the kill order and then you'll be free to do whatever you want, as long as is not too villainous.

Be grateful to Miss Militia, girl. Assault only wanted to fuck you over and to feel good about his revenge, not to save the situation by stopping Noelle. I don't think Battery would have been ok with the way you're acting, Assault. She was a good person, even when she worked for Cauldron, she still refused to help them till the end and warned Legend over their not so good intentions. Battery would have been so ashamed of you, Assault.

A kill order. It was what they had in place for the Slaughterhouse Nine. No holds barred, official heroes would be allowed to shoot us on sight. Any villain or vigilante that came after us would be allowed to go free with only a brief questioning for the paperwork after killing one of us. To top it off, anyone would be able to donate or post amounts for our heads; amounts would be added to running totals. We'd be waiting jackpots for any bounty hunter or assassin looking for a big score.

I wondered if any of Coil's wealthier investors or contacts would hold a grudge.
There were any number of arguments against her statement. We'd done good. Even Clockblocker had been willing to argue that the calls I'd made weren't entirely without merit. I could have pointed out that any number of people in my territory would argue I was a force for good, and that it was ludicrous that we were the ones being held to this standard when they'd been at fault for
Armsmaster's breaking of the truce. Armsmaster, who had gone free because of hero's prerogative. But that same bias meant things had been twisted around, and apparently popular sentiment held us at fault for the breaking of the truce. It was an unpleasant surprise.
Hell, to give us the 'one last chance' line with a situation where there was every possibility of friendly fire? It was tying our hands, putting us at mortal risk one way or another.
"I'm… willing to accept that," I said, suppressing every argument and every bit of indignation I was feeling. I looked in the general direction of my teammates. "If my team is."
"You're the boss," Tattletale said. She was quick enough on the draw that I suspected there was a reason she'd said it.
"Yeah," Grue said. My bugs caught Imp and Regent nodding.
Rachel's response was last. "Whatever."
"Well then," Tattletale said. "Now that that's settled, in the spirit of being allies, I have some news."
"News?" One of the unfamiliar capes asked. A woman with a deeper voice. "Good news?"
"Oh, it's terrible news," Tattletale said. "Noelle's lying."
"About what?" Miss Militia asked.
"About Vista being dead."

Well, you don't tell me something new, Tattletale. I was always sure that Vista is still alive and Noelle is bluffing. Noelle NEEDS Vista alive in order to produce more clones and I think I have an idea where the hell she's keeping to girl. Inside her stomach. She ate her but she didn't digested her yet, she's keeping her in the "safety" of her huge stomach and clone her. If someone can cut her through her stomach, they'll be able to put Vista out and save her. But they must act quick because she regenerates very fast. So, this is the reason why Noelle keeps growing. Because she ate so many people/animals that her stomach becomes bigger and more deformed in short time. I wonder how many people inside her are still alive, besides Vista? Btw, during Travelers' Arc, I said that I believe that Noelle suffers from bulimia/anorexia because she was ashamed with her body and usually people with this problem act like this. Now, her power is to EAT people. A big "FUCK YOU" to the Irony. Travelers' powers are pure and cruel ironies of their lives.

"That's terrible news? Is she in danger?" Triumph asked. I sensed him leaning forward to get a better view of Tattletale, past the crush of bodies at the end of the room.

"No. I can't say how Vista's doing, because I don't know the specifics on Noelle's power, but she was trying to mislead us, talking about how she'd use us up. Too much stress on it. If she'd only said it the first time, I'd be more inclined to think it was part of her stream of consciousness, but then she hammered it in, used it to threaten us. It felt forced. Didn't ring true."
"Can we believe her?" This from another unfamiliar cape, a man. It was apparently directed at Miss Militia.
"She's… frequently correct," Miss Militia said.
"Vista's alive and Noelle's trying to keep that secret? What's so terrible about it?" Triumph asked.
"Because it means she's capable of producing more clones. She's capable of keeping Vista captive somewhere, continually producing agents to sow destruction and apply the kind of pressure she was talking about, and she's lucid enough to recognize that fact."
"How the hell do you keep Vista captive?"
"People," Tattletale said.
"Then let's wrap this up fast. Essential details only," Miss Militia said. "Any objection to me taking point? Eidolon's not usually comfortable with it, and I'm the ranking parahuman in Brockton Bay."
There was no dissent.
"Then we're splitting up into teams. Stick with the teams you arrived with. Best to fight alongside people you know. Standard stranger countermeasures are in effect with the clones. I'll assume they retain the memories of the original, based on what she said about the clone going after Vista's family?"
"They do," Tattletale said.
"Then we're restricted to visual ID checks only. No passwords. I already got in contact with Dragon. She's on a mission and will only deploy here if it's absolutely essential-"
I caught a sigh from Tattletale.
"-But she's set the armbands up for the coming conflict. They'll display a green screen up until you remove them, and the screens will flash and identify other armband wearers at a range of fifty meters. Be vigilant. Keep track of every one of your teammates, maintain a visual, no splitting up.
"Chevalier, take your team, follow after my Wards. If she can detect capes, we'll need to assign her a thinker classification, and we'll need to assume that any isolated groups are at risk. Undersiders? Take Myrddin's Wards and pursue Flechette and Parian. Ensure they aren't intercepted. The rest of us will track down Noelle. Any indications about her location from the video?"
"Yes, but there's no point," Tattletale said.
"You know her location?"
"I know her location as of the time of the call, but she'll be moving already."
"Where?"
"The west end. By the mountains."
"She went from just east of Downtown to the west end?" Miss Militia asked.
"I'd stake money on it. But again, it's no use."
"It doesn't make sense in terms of timeline," someone said. He sounded slightly nasal. "The distance covered-"
"Think about it," Tattletale said.
"Vista," Miss Militia supplied. "She had Vista's power. And she will have that power at her disposal for the duration of this conflict."
"And Noelle's fast," Tattletale said. "Put those points together and she's highlymobile. Ergo, she isn't going to be anywhere near where she was."
"Good intel. In the interest of finding her, I'd like you to accompany my group, Tattletale."
"No can do."
"No?"
"I was just about to say I was wanting to stop by my headquarters. I have a few theories on how we could handle this situation, and one off-the-wall idea that needs some verification before I do anything about it."
"Nothing that puts any of us at risk?"
"No. It mostly involves the other Travelers. But I think it's worth pursuing."
"If she comes after you-"
Tattletale cut her off. "She will. I'll join the Undersiders and the Chicago Wards as far as going to Ballistic's territory to fill him in, ensure he knows that she may come after him. I'll see if I can't bribe him into coming with me. It'll be a narrow window of time where it's just me, him and hopefully his flunkies."
"You make a high value target," I said, "Especially with Ballistic in tow. She wants you dead, and she wants his power."
"I have ideas. Don't worry about me." Tattletale turned. "Miss Militia, I'll be in touch by phone, so you know where you're going."
"Fine. I'm ordering more capes to patrol the area around you, then, if you're sure you'll be a target. Are there any other isolated parahumans in the city that we aren't aware of?"
"Scrub," I said.

Yes, Vista can't escape from Noelle's stomach with the help of her power because there are many people inside Noelle, keeping her from finding a solution to be free. Damn Manton Effect. The world would have been a better place without the existence of Manton Effect -at least for parahumans who wold have been stronger with less problems. But there's a parahuman who doesn't give a shit about this annoying Effect. Motherfucker Scrub. I almost forgot about this ex-Merchant. Yep, he was so close to kill Crawler and this without previous training or remarkable control over his power. If he will completely erase Noelle's brains, I doubt that she'll be able to regenerate another one. After all, her corona pollentia is inside her brains, along with the supposed passenger/baby attached by it. Eliminate her brains, no more power, no more regeneration, no more life. They must find Scrub and convince him to help them and if he'll refuse, Miss Militia can simply declare him a public menace and place another kill order for him. He'll HAVE to help them then.

"He's working under Ballistic," Tattletale said. "I'll get him on board by any means. He's one of the few people, short of Flechette, who can deal guaranteed damage to an Endbringer or Endbringer-Lite, and I have ideas about him and how I could use him."

"Scrub?" one of the visiting capes asked. The deeper-voiced woman.
"Uncontrolled matter-annihilation bursts in his immediate vicinity," I said. "Ex-member of the Merchants, a local gang of dealers and users."
"Blaster-eight, easy, if not a straight ten, despite his relatively short range," Tattletale supplied, "But I'm not sure he does what Skitter thinks he does, and that's why I want to talk to him."
"See to it," Miss Militia said. "Anyone else?"
"Circus, Leet, Uber," Grue said. "They were leaving, but-"
"They're dead," Assault said.
"They're very much alive," Tattletale retorted. "And they would have gonewest to leave the city. The same direction Noelle went after targeting Vista. I think that speaks for itself."
Miss Militia nodded. "It does. If anyone has any questions, communicate them while on the move. Go!"
The capes began flowing out of the room. We had seated ourselves at the furthest point from the door, so we were stuck inside until the way was clear.
A small group of younger capes hung back. Miss Militia had left us a contingent of out-of-town Wards. I couldn't get much of a sense of them just with what my bugs could give me on their costumes. They probably weren't a full team from a city as big as Chicago; they'd be limited to the ones who'd agreed to fight an unknown, A-class threat. Three boys and a girl. They were watching us, and I couldn't even guess at their expressions without the ability to see or feel things out with my bugs.
I was getting tired of this, and my fatigue was wearing on my already thin patience.
"Bitch," I said. "Do me a favor and clear that window?"
She didn't respond, but she didn't hesitate either. She was on her feet as soon as she'd lifted Bastard off of her lap, and kicked the plywood free of the frame before anyone could protest.
I brought every bug I'd had outside the building into the room. They swirled around me, the Undersiders, and the handful of capes on the far end of the room. I could sense three of the four Wards getting into fighting stances, noted how two of the boys and the girl shielded the one other boy, forming a loose triangle formation between him and us.
The movements of the bugs gave me the ability to feel them out, drawing a complete map of what they were wearing and carrying.
The boy in the very front, the tallest and largest of them, would be a tinker. The rods that supported his heavy gauntlets were oiled, suggesting they were pistons, and I noted the presence of blunt-tipped spikes inside his gauntlets. The setup wasn't unlike the blades in Mannequin's arms, but these weren't extending into his body, and I somehow got the impression they were intended for something very different. His armor was heavy, supported more by engineering than by his own strength, and his helmet covered his face, but not the back of his head, with a single lens on a telescoping nozzle, dead center.
The other boy in front was narrower, with flowing clothes. He sported a surprising lack of equipment and weaponry. It gave me the sense of someone who thought of their body as a weapon.
The girl was similar, but I did note that her gloves were reinforced for striking, a framework of some sort of metal, with rivet-like bumps over each knuckle, each etched with a fine design I couldn't make out and metal filigree feathers at the edges. She had padding with a similar design and near-identical feathers.
The one in the back wasn't in a fighting stance. He stood with his legs together, heels touching, back straight, one palm extended toward us. He wore a mask that covered one eye and put an oversized lens in front of the other, with spikes radiating from it like the rays of a sun. His costume was a very lightweight covering of layered and interlocking metal plates, more stylized than functional, but there was a coat-tail length of cloth extending behind the back, hanging to his knees.
I was careful in how I condensed the bugs around me. I kept my team obscured as I pulled the bugs away from the four wards, leaving enough bugs on them that I could covertly follow their movements. They hadn't been stung or bitten, and they didn't have a clear shot as the bugs moved away from them. It meant, at least, that they'd get a chance to realize they weren't under attack.
The bugs filled the necessary pockets of my costume, then carpeted the exterior, including my mask. They connected to the ends of my hair, and moved beneath it, giving it more volume and helping it come little alive, the 'ends' moving in the absence of wind. Where I had excess, they trailed several feet behind me like the hem of a royal gown.
"That's better," I said, augmenting my voice a touch. It was. I felt more centered, more secure and confident with the bugs close. I'd just alarmed the people we'd be working with, but a small show of power would help ensure we got respect and cooperation.
"Your names and powers?" Tattletale asked the Chicago Wards. She gestured toward the door and we started walking briskly toward the exit.
"Tecton," said the power-armor wearer. He had to raise his voice to be heard over his heavy footfalls and the rattle of furniture around him. He indicated the boy to his right, then the girl, "This is Wanton and Grace. Our ranged attacker here is Raymancer."

Skitter scared the crap out of the Chicago Wards with her creepy ways of dealing with the situation. As usual, nothing new here.

Hmm, if I have to guess about their powers, let's see if my intuition will be helpful enough. Tecton- a Tinker specialized in either earthquakes or architecture or both. No idea about Wanton and Raymancer, their codenames don't tell me nothing. As for Grace...easy, she's beauty, she's Grace, she'll punch you in the face...with her metal gloves.

I wonder if Noelle captured/ate Circus, Leet, Uber as well. I can't help imagining her having TROUBLES with Leet clones since almost everything they're doing will fail. She'll be like: What was in my mind when I decided that someone like Leet would make a value soldier in my Army of Clones? This RAGE doesn't quite help me think clearly.

"Isn't Wonton a kind of noodle?" Regent asked.

"And Raymancer?" Imp asked. "They're really running out of stuff to call superheroes."
"Play nice," Grue warned.
"Yeah," Tattletale said, "A wonton is a kind of dumpling, not a noodle. Get it right."
"Wanton," Tecton said, stressing the pronounciation, "Is a breaker-stranger class cape. He can turn into a localized telekinetic storm. Raymancer is our long-range fighter. The three of us are more close-combat types, but Raymancer manages to make it work.
"Grace is a martial artist. She's got a power spread. Faster perception of time, enhanced agility, and a striker-class enhancement for select body parts at a time; invulnerability to both powers and general harm, as well as increased effect on contact."
"And you? Tinker?" Grue asked.
"Tinker and thinker both. Architecture and geology sense. Armor lets me 'ground' kinetic energy like you might do with electricity. These are piledriver gauntlets," he patted one gauntlet, "For creating fissures, generating localized earthquakes and other controlled demolition."
"Having tinkers against Noelle is probably our safest bet," Tattletale said.
"Because she won't copy their gear," I said.
Tattletale nodded.
"Good. Thank you, by the way, for sharing," Grue spoke to the Wards. Tecton nodded. Our groups had reached the door that led into the stairwell. There were officers handing out armbands, and the elevator was in use, forcing us to wait as people got their armbands and hurried downstairs.
"You need our info?"
"No," Grace said. Her voice was hard. "We know who you are."
Imp cackled, "We're famous!"
I hung back a second as one officer held an armband and my armor compartment out to me. I gripped it, but he didn't let go.
He wanted to play it that way?
I let my bugs drift away from my armor to surround it. He acted as if I'd set it on fire, letting go and backing away. I handed it to Tattletale as we passed through the door to the stairs, then strapped on my armband. I spoke into it, "Skitter."
How had things gone with Leviathan? My username would appear. I held my armband to Tattletale, and she pressed a button.
"No trackers hidden in your stuff," she said. "Want help putting this on?"
"Please. When we're at the bottom."
We were at the tail end of the group, and consequently we were the last ones out the door. The dogs were already mostly grown, and we paused as Bitch increased Bentley's size to the point that we could ride him.
"We have too many people and not enough dogs," Grue commented.
"We'll drive," Tecton said. "Just need to requisition a van."
"I'll ride," I said. "Rachel?"
She nodded. She was up first, and she gave me a hand in getting up. I had to fight coughing for a minute.
"Assault's going to try to screw us over, if we cross paths," Tattletale said.
"I suspected," I answered.
"And if this goes south, they will come after us. The bit Miss Militia said about Battery? That loses its cachet when people start to feel like the people of this city would be better protected if they turned us in than if we were helping. We're going to have to stay on top of this. Turn around, I'll help strap on your armor."
I nodded and turned around. I moved my bugs out of the way as she fiddled with the straps, threading them through the appropriate areas. I blinked a few times, looking towards the nearest light source to try to gauge if my vision was any better. No improvement. Short of a thorough check by an ophthalmologist, I wouldn't find out if I'd regain my sight, or how much I'd recover if I did.
Everything I'd been through, and I got the long-term injury as a civilian.

Well, I was right about Tecton and Grace, with the difference that Tecton is also a Thinker, not just a Tinker and Grace is...beauty, Grace, she'll punch you in the face with her...supernatural agility.

Wanton can turn into a telekinetic storm. How cool is that? But why he's a Breaker? He should be a Changer because he shapeshifts into a freaking storm. Breaker are the ones who break the laws of reality, not change their appearances, as far as I know. Anyway, I still don't know Raymancer's power but I'm sure that I'm going to see it once the battle will start. These young parahumans from Chicago seem like ok guys. I wonder if Miss Militia send heroes after Psycho Vista before she'll kill Vista's parents and turn her into an orphan.

I'm fine with killing her since she's so evil and murderous if they can't contain her.
Funny how Skitter remembers, from time to time, that she's injured, blind and she needs medical treatment. Are you sure you're not ok, Skitter? Because, from what I see so far, the wounds and blindness are almost nothing for you. Something like...scratches. A little more than scratches, but still not bad enough to make you say: "I have to stay away from this fight because my body can't take it anymore." You invincible Iron Woman.

Within two minutes, the Wards had pulled a containment van up beside us, with Tecton behind the wheel and Raymancer sitting in the passenger-side window, holding the headrest of the chair inside to help maintain his position. The back popped open, and Imp, Regent, Tattletale and Grue climbed in.

Ballistic as our first stop. Then Parian.
I winced at the pain in my side as Bentley started running. And maybe collect Atlas while we're in this area of town.
Tattletale was right. This situation being classified as a level-A situation instead of a class-S situation wasn't doing us any favors. I just had to note how things were different from Leviathan's attack. There were no air raid sirens. People weren't being evacuated.
Helicopters flew overhead. I could hear them, even if my bugs didn't reach that high. I knew Miss Militia had assigned us capes, for the inevitable event of Noelle sniffing us out and coming after us. I didn't sense them on the ground, so I could only assume they were in the air.
Was it better that people weren't being evacuated? They weren't on the streets, in the line of fire if the psycho-Vistas or Noelle came after them. It meant we didn't need to deal with unpowered clones.
But it also meant that there were that many more people here if things went south.
There was a potential kill order on our heads, and there were innumerable heroes in the city who had reason to throw us to the wolves, or to Noelle if they thought the situation called for it. The stakes were higher, and there was a lot more room to fail. Noelle just needed one lucky maneuver to go from class-A to class-S threat in moments, and we weren't getting half the backup this situation deserved.
Not to mention that I was worn out. Physically, emotionally, I felt like I'd been pushed to the limit, wrung out and then pushed to the limit all over again, and that was just dealing with Coil and rescuing Dinah in the past twenty-four hours. If I got into the past few months, or how the very way I thought had changed-
I felt a touch dizzy just thinking about it.
No. It wasn't dizziness. My surroundings really were off kilter. The buildings around us and ahead of us were stretching and shifting en-masse.
"Trouble!" I informed Bitch. I used my bugs to notify the others in the containment van: Vistas.
I had to sweep my bugs over the area before I could find any of them. One was perched on a rooftop, one block ahead. She wasn't in costume.
It had been dumb of me to expect them to be in costume. I hadn't even considered it, but Noelle wouldn't spit out anything but the people themselves. The bugs noted the hardness of her face, more like a mask than flesh, her angular, almost artificial chin, and the thin hair on top of her head.
The others… too many places to check… I found another, three blocks over, making a beeline towards us. Noelle had ordered them to space out, to catch us if we crossed her perimeter.
Bastard yelped to my left, skidded to a stop. Rachel seemed to read something in his response, because she pulled Bentley to a hard left, veering straight into the van's path.
She was going to hit it? I had to adjust my grip, lifting my leg out of the way before she could follow through and have Bentley bodycheck the vehicle. I sensed Raymancer dropping from the window to his seat as the dog hit, only an inch away from serious injury. The van turned and skidded to a stop, and I fell, rolling.
A block ahead of us, a building toppled. I ducked my head low and covered it as dust and debris rolled past us as a thick cloud. The building wouldn't have hit us, but the debris and dust might have left us incapacitated long enough for the Vistas to act.
We'd ground to a halt, and sure enough, the pseudo-Vista on the rooftop was slowly starting to work on the buildings around us, thinning walls and twisting supports. She was spreading out the work and laying the groundwork for future collapses, I realized. The second psycho-Vista, busy trying to close the distance by folding the space between us and her and stepping across the shortened distances, was raising the street between two buildings, creating a steep incline that even Bitch's dogs would struggle to climb, cutting off one avenue of retreat.
And I was aware of a third one. The tall Vista Grue had described. She'd stretched like taffy, her bones curving to the point that each was more a crescent than straight. Narrow, so thin it felt like she'd break, with a face twisted into a perpetual, distorted scream, she was picking her way through the rubble of the fallen building. Her power was twisting the largest pieces of rubble around her until they were wisps, chunks of concrete slowly corkscrewing in space until they were nothing more than dust.
Three of them.
And Noelle nowhere to be seen. Not in my power's range of four-ish city blocks. She'd be going for the others. For Ballistic, or Parian. These troops were only to slow us down, buy her time to make another move, find another set of powers.
Fuck me. Noelle was employing the same basic tactics I did: sensing the opposition, strategically deploying the offensive troops, acting as the heavy hitter and problem solver in the center of the chaos her minions generated, working towards complementary or wholly different goals than the 'swarm'.
Worse, she was better at it than I was. She was faster, her senses reached further, and the individual at the center of her army was a nightmarish force unto herself.
We couldn't afford to get caught fighting. Not while Noelle hit our other allies.
Still flat on the ground, I choked back the next spell of coughs and touched the button on my armband, "We need reinforcements, fast."

The first round of the Attack of the Clones just started.

Everyone against 3 Huggles Vistas, including a creepy one who reminds me of the Scream painting by Edvard Munch. Noelle and Nilbog would get along so well since they're both talented at doing such amazing pieces of FINE ART. Bonesaw is pretty good too but she'll never reach their peak of success. She's more scientific oriented than artistic like them, no matter how much she claims otherwise.

I wonder where the other two Huggles Vistas are. Maybe they stay hidden and watch the fight until the first 3 will be defeated then they'll attack. Thanks God for Skitter's bugs, because she will feel through them where the other clones are hiding. I'm more worried for four other reasons than heroes/Undersiders having to fight Huggles Vistas. One reason: Trickster. The other 3: Eidolon, Alexandria and Legend. Fighting against Noelle+ her clones+ Trickster is a NIGHTMARE.

Fighting against Noelle+ any clone of Eidolon, Alexandria or Legend is ARMAGEDDON.

Good night and sleep well, my friends.

blackarrow · Nov 10, 2018

KnownParadox said:
While Justin is a dick, a medium sized bit of the blame goes to his parents.

Seriously guys? While yes I realize it's a tragedy what happened to your daughter, but you have a son as well jackasses, you don't pick one or the other, you pick all in the game of favourite children.

And then you your daughter needs a transplant, great! There's plenty of people offering parts of their body! Just go down to the hospital an-

What? You force your son, your son, to rip an organ out of his body for her.

Uh alright.... does he consent?

No?

In fact he probably denied it, quite loudly in fact. Maybe even violently. But you did it anyway. Assholes.

Justin gets all the rest of the blame though. Attempted murder is bit beyond the pale jackass.

Honestly all his family (including himself) but the sister sounds like a bunch of fuckups.

Yep, sadly, you're right. His parents were another couple of parents of NIGHTMARE that you usually see in Worm (I'm kind of pissed because Wildbow is almost incapable to write about NORMAL, non-jerkass families; even in a fictional wold with superpowered people and monsters should be plenty of good parents but Wildbow seems to ignore their existence. Yes, there are few REAL parents around like Rory's parents, Dinah's parents, Taylor's dad, but there are very few examples lost in a sea of almost ludicrous bad parents). Its kind of ridiculous, people aren't traumatized only because they have bad parents. I personally know a troubled person who have a very normal and kind family, yet she have her issues.

AmbarGriss · Nov 10, 2018

I think I read somewhere that Wildbow is a self-proclaimed misanthrope, I don't know if that is true tho.

10moorem II · Nov 10, 2018

blackarrow said:
Yep, sadly, you're right. His parents were another couple of parents of NIGHTMARE that you usually see in Worm (I'm kind of pissed because Wildbow is almost incapable to write about NORMAL, non-jerkass families; even in a fictional wold with superpowered people and monsters should be plenty of good parents but Wildbow seems to ignore their existence. Yes, there are few REAL parents around like Rory's parents, Dinah's parents, Taylor's dad, but there are very few examples lost in a sea of almost ludicrous bad parents). Its kind of ridiculous, people aren't traumatized only because they have bad parents. I personally know a troubled person who have a very normal and kind family, yet she have her issues.

Unfortunately the concept of normal parents in a world full of genocidal monsters, world ending threats and general despair is a tad skewed.

KnownParadox · Nov 10, 2018

Welcome! Welcome one and all to today's episode of!....

SPOT! THE! CLONE!

Now, there are clones and they each have cape names, or atleast most of them, and today I will introduce and explain them.

First, the original. The (former) one and only, Missy Biron.

Cape name: Vista!

Vista;
A vista is a view from a particular place, especially a beautiful view from a high place.
[written]
From my bedroom window I looked out on a crowded vista of hills and rooftops. [+ of]
...an endless fascinating vista of snow peaks and shadowed valleys.

Basically, a view of an area, or the How the area looks. Vista's superpower is spacial manipulation, she can stretch, compress, and all around shape any non-biological... anything really.

The clone features in today's episode is!...

Scape!

Now, I'm not actually sure which clone Scape is, but I'm going to cover the one stretched like eternally tortured taffy, seeing as she has the visibly different power.

Scape, the back end of Landscape.

The landscape is everything you can see when you look across an area of land, including hills, rivers, buildings, trees, and plants.
[written]
...Arizona's desert landscape.
We moved to Northamptonshire and a new landscape of hedges and fields. [+ of]

The less fancy word for Vista, I suppose.

Now for her power...

Actually, the story spells it out for you later, so this would be spoilers!

*Note, some clones have tags, not all, and for some clones we don't know what they do, and for a few we don't even know if their power is any different, seeing as we barely know some of the capes. There is some WOG I can maybe dig up though.

And that's it for today's episode of!...

SPOT! THE! CLONE!

Thank you! Thank you! We'll see you lot later, have a good night.

blackarrow · Nov 10, 2018

AmbarGriss said:
I think I read somewhere that Wildbow is a self-proclaimed misanthrope, I don't know if that is true tho.

So, basically you're telling me that Wildbow is....Jack Slash's pseudonym and this story is his autobiography. Ok, now I understand why so much hate and negativism in this "story". Jack is telling us about his life and adventures, pretending that he's writing a fiction. Now I wonder how in the hell he was able to publish his autobiography in OUR world. Did he escaped through a portal after he ended his world?

Vayhle · Nov 11, 2018

I don't think this is true, that J. C. McCrae is a self-proclaimed misanthrope, not in the slightest. He is a genuinely nice guy who helps people in areas he has some expertise, spends time with readers constantly, and is always dealing with bullshit like being called names for the things he writes.

He is an author and a human being. He is not the stories he writes.

AmbarGriss · Nov 11, 2018

Vayhle said:
I don't think this is true, that J. C. McCrae is a self-proclaimed misanthrope, not in the slightest. He is a genuinely nice guy who helps people in areas he has some expertise, spends time with readers constantly, and is always dealing with bullshit like being called names for the things he writes.

He is an author and a human being. He is not the stories he writes.

As I said I have no ideia if that is true. I just read it from someone didn't had good things to say about his work. So there is that

Luckenzio · Nov 13, 2018

AmbarGriss said:
As I said I have no ideia if that is true. I just read it from someone didn't had good things to say about his work. So there is that

Wasnt it a joke or something ? I know his derpy edgelord status as a writer its almost a meme among the community at this point.

AmbarGriss · Nov 13, 2018

Luckenzio said:
Wasnt it a joke or something ? I know his derpy edgelord status as a writer its almost a meme among the community at this point.

No ideia.

Vayhle · Nov 14, 2018

Luckenzio said:
Wasnt it a joke or something ? I know his derpy edgelord status as a writer its almost a meme among the community at this point.

I don't agree with any of this, and doubt the majority of the fan base does either. Maybe a specific and insular group you belong to does, but it isn't a generalized opinion.

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

Not a sphere

The Laughing One

Anti-nihilist(maybe).

Not a sphere

Totally not four rats in a trench coat

Not a sphere

Totally not four rats in a trench coat

Totally not four rats in a trench coat

Not a sphere

Totally not four rats in a trench coat

Totally not four rats in a trench coat