Well, I don't like her as much as I like Legend but I also don't find her as interesting as Eidolon. She's another corrupted hero just like the rest of her team, but she seems to really love to do heroic stuff, just like Legend (she also saved Newter's live even if she did it with the price of turning him into a Case 53). Unlike Eidolon, however, she's proud of her powers and her status as a hero and she seems to not be disturbed by the fact that she works for Cauldron (yes, she hesitated to let Manton/Siberian escape at first but somehow Doctor Mother convinced her to accept this super-villainous bullshit). She's the most easily to become more and more corrupted out of all other Triumvirate members. Too bad that she also have such a strong heroic side. She's like a very beautiful flower withering away. Which is sad to me. But maybe, in time, she'll realize how wrong is the path that she's following and will save her still good heart before it will completely tarnish.
I would not call eidolon a coward, he is the strongest, apart from scion and the endbringers, but he is also intelligent, he knows that with time he will become useless and he will be unable to save more lives, so he prefers to die and not be a burden to live as a burden.
But from what I have read you consider pragmatism and the option more "intelligent" options of cowards.
Like Coil, many of our world would call him a pragmatic, intelligent, very "ambitious" but you call him a coward because you do not like him.
If someone you like (Skitter, Lisa, Vista, eyc ...) will use tactics similar to those of Coil you would also call them cowards?
(Not to mention that they have also used "cowardly" tactics)
Of course, we already know that everything is very subjective.
The saying "Nothing is true, everything is allowed" has always sounded, ironically, much more true than the others.
I would not call eidolon a coward, he is the strongest, apart from scion and the endbringers, but he is also intelligent, he knows that with time he will become useless and he will be unable to save more lives, so he prefers to die and not be a burden to live as a burden.
But from what I have read you consider pragmatism and the option more "intelligent" options of cowards.
Like Coil, many of our world would call him a pragmatic, intelligent, very "ambitious" but you call him a coward because you do not like him.
If someone you like (Skitter, Lisa, Vista, eyc ...) will use tactics similar to those of Coil you would also call them cowards?
(Not to mention that they have also used "cowardly" tactics)
Of course, we already know that everything is very subjective.
The saying "Nothing is true, everything is allowed" has always sounded, ironically, much more true than the others.
Coil was a coward not because I hated him, but because he used some really cowardly methods to win against his enemies. First, he used a DEFENSELESS CHILD ad his main shield and weapon and only cowards and completely heartless people use children in order to realize their purposes. Taylor REFUSED to use Dinah, preferring instead to fight blind, this alone showing that she's a brave, with some strong morals, person. The same goes for Lisa and Missy,. They don't use innocents in their fights and they never run away from a battle, something like Coil always did, despite being so strong.
As for Eidolon, maybe he's not a coward, but the fact that he wants so much to die kind of bothers me a lot. Someone so freaking strong, giving up so easy at his life...isn't someone who would deserve my admiration, neither my respect. I don' t like people who give up, ok? I like fighters, people who never give up even when they feel like they already lost everything. I like people who care so much for their own lives and others' lives that they will actually refuse to die, laughing in the face of Death until their very last moments. Taylor is one of those people, even if she also had some really bothering suicidal moments. But now she's much more better, thanks to people like Lisa and Brian, who gave her their support. I can't admire Eidolon when all he cares is to kill himself in a fight. But this is my humble opinion.
I don't think Eidolon really wants to die though, is just that, like it or not, they are losing against the Endbringers, and he IS the best they have next to Scion, who isn't very reliable to be honest.
What Eidolon wants to do is to recover his former strength, which he knows is there somewhere but can't really risk trying to reach in the middle of an Endbringer attack because, well, it would be disastrous if it were to go wrong. So,he is betting everything on this, and dying isn't really his goal, is just that IF he were to die, the world would have been doomed anyway since, well, can you imagine how screwed everyone would be whitout Eidolon in an Enbringer fight? I don't think he is lying when he says he is worth a hundred capes.
In his eyes, Noelle is a godsend, she is dangerous enough to make him go all out, but not Endbringers level of destruction, so this situation is probably as good an opportunity as he is going to get, especially before the next Endbringer attack. He has been risking his life for so many years that i don't think is fair to sum his decision as "I'll just kill myself".
Also, i'm really enjoying reading your reactions and opinions, so i hope you keep it up.
(and sorry if there are some spelling mistakes, english isn't my main language)
Coil was a coward not because I hated him, but because he used some really cowardly methods to win against his enemies. First, he used a DEFENSELESS CHILD ad his main shield and weapon and only cowards and completely heartless people use children in order to realize their purposes. Taylor REFUSED to use Dinah, preferring instead to fight blind, this alone showing that she's a brave, with some strong morals, person. The same goes for Lisa and Missy,. They don't use innocents in their fights and they never run away from a battle, something like Coil always did, despite being so strong.
As for Eidolon, maybe he's not a coward, but the fact that he wants so much to die kind of bothers me a lot. Someone so freaking strong, giving up so easy at his life...isn't someone who would deserve my admiration, neither my respect. I don' t like people who give up, ok? I like fighters, people who never give up even when they feel like they already lost everything. I like people who care so much for their own lives and others' lives that they will actually refuse to die, laughing in the face of Death until their very last moments. Taylor is one of those people, even if she also had some really bothering suicidal moments. But now she's much more better, thanks to people like Lisa and Brian, who gave her their support. I can't admire Eidolon when all he cares is to kill himself in a fight. But this is my humble opinion.
You overestimate the power of coil, yes, it is very strong, but because he had access to an incredible amount of resources.
You give the power to taylor, who is only a teenager, and suddenly everything is more difficult.
It is still very useful, I do not deny it, but the power of coil shines more with a lot of resources.
You overestimate the power of coil, yes, it is very strong, but because he had access to an incredible amount of resources.
You give the power to taylor, who is only a teenager, and suddenly everything is more difficult.
It is still very useful, I do not deny it, but the power of coil shines more with a lot of resources.
That's true, but you also have to acknowledge the fact that Coil's power makes it much easier to get an incredible amount of resources. If you give Taylor Coil's power and the several years he had to build up his crime empire, she would be almost as powerful.
That's true, but you also have to acknowledge the fact that Coil's power makes it much easier to get an incredible amount of resources. If you give Taylor Coil's power and the several years he had to build up his crime empire, she would be almost as powerful.
I know that, but in the end, what really matters is the context and the interpretation.
In the case of the power of coil, it allows you to get information without sacrificing anything (apart from, perhaps, your own mental health, after all, you can still be mentally affected) and, if you play your cards well, an almost unlimited amount of attempts for what you want to do.
I don't think Eidolon really wants to die though, is just that, like it or not, they are losing against the Endbringers, and he IS the best they have next to Scion, who isn't very reliable to be honest.
What Eidolon wants to do is to recover his former strength, which he knows is there somewhere but can't really risk trying to reach in the middle of an Endbringer attack because, well, it would be disastrous if it were to go wrong. So,he is betting everything on this, and dying isn't really his goal, is just that IF he were to die, the world would have been doomed anyway since, well, can you imagine how screwed everyone would be whitout Eidolon in an Enbringer fight? I don't think he is lying when he says he is worth a hundred capes.
In his eyes, Noelle is a godsend, she is dangerous enough to make him go all out, but not Endbringers level of destruction, so this situation is probably as good an opportunity as he is going to get, especially before the next Endbringer attack. He has been risking his life for so many years that i don't think is fair to sum his decision as "I'll just kill myself".
Also, i'm really enjoying reading your reactions and opinions, so i hope you keep it up.
(and sorry if there are some spelling mistakes, english isn't my main language)
Yes, maybe you're right and I should stop thinking that he's suicidal despite the fact that he was the one who told Jessica that he wants to die in the next fight against Noelle. Maybe he doesn't want to be a burden for the other people who fight alongside him and if he'll lose his powers right in the middle of a fight, he'll greatly demoralize them (especially people who admire him and look at him like he's a God; someone like Grace, for example) and they'll die more easy if they'll lose their hopes and courage. Or maybe he regrets what he did for Cauldron (helping them kidnap people or release super-dangerous villains) and he wants to punish himself by fighting until his last breath since he feels like can't run away from his own qualms of conscience. I think I should stop judging him so harsh before knowing his real reasons behind this lack of will of living. At least, he never runs away from a fight, he's not a coward like Coil, just to give you an example.
No problem with your english. I'm romanian and english is my second language too so we're not so different. Your english is even better than mine and I'm a little jealous now.
Of course I'll continue this liveblog, especially since I like Worm so much (besides I have all the time in the world). I'm only 21 years old, its not like I'll die of old age tomorrow and there's a risk for this liveblog to remain unfinished.
You overestimate the power of coil, yes, it is very strong, but because he had access to an incredible amount of resources.
You give the power to taylor, who is only a teenager, and suddenly everything is more difficult.
It is still very useful, I do not deny it, but the power of coil shines more with a lot of resources.
In other words, Coil was OP (but not that OP) until he was defeated by someone even more OP than him- Tattletale (she took away half of resources from him and ruined all his chances to escape). If it wasn't for Tattletale, he would have killed everyone, including our dear protagonist. Skitter didn't defeated him, she only killed a man who was already finished.
1) My favorite character from the entire story: Of course, the BEST character. Who else but my formidable Tattletale? My least favorite character: A tie between Mannequin, Hookwolf and Hearbreaker (amazing how Heartbreaker didn't appeared yet in the story in flesh and blood yet I hate him with all my heart).
2) My favorite villain: Tattletale. My least favorite villain: a tie between Mannequin/Hookwolf/Heartbreaker.
3) My favorite hero: Weld. <3 My least favorite hero: Shadow Stalker.
4) My favorite Brockton Bay Wards member: Weld. My least favorite Brockton Bay Wards member: again, Shadow Stalker.
5) My favorite Protectorate member: Miss Militia. My least favorite Protectorate member: nobody, I like all of them.
6) My favorite Triumvirate member: Legend. My least favorite Triumvirate member: Eidolon.
7) My favorite Cauldron member (except for Triumvirate): nobody yet (I still don't know much about Doormaker, Contessa and Number Man to have an opinion about them. I can't judge them without knowing at least a little bit about them). My least favorite Cauldron member (except for Triumvirate): Doctor Mother.
8) My favorite S9 member: the adorabloodthirsty Bonesaw. My least favorite S9 member: A tie between Mannequin and Hookwolf.
9) My favorite ex Merchants member: No one of those fuckers. My least favorite ex Merchants member: all of them.
10) My favorite Chicago Wards member: Grace. My least favorite Chicago Wards member: Wanton.
11) My favorite nazi (OMG, this sounds so disturbing): Purity. My least favorite nazi: Currently Crusader because Hookwolf is now a S9.
12) My favorite Rogue hero: Parian (I consider her being a hero, especially for the people from her territory, ok?) My least favorite Rogue hero: no one.
13) My favorite Rogue villain: A tie between Marquis and Accord (Why Accord? Just for being so fucking weird and eccentric). My least favorite Rogue villain: Coil.
14) My favorite Case 53: Weld (cause he's my Worm fictional boyfriend and I like him in more ways than just one <3). My least favorite Case 53: Noelle (I consider her an indirectly Case 53).
15) My favorite Undersider: Tattletale, naturally. My least favorite Undersider: Regent.
16) My favorite Faultline Crew member: Gregor the Snail. My least favorite Faultline Crew member: Spitfire.
17) My favorite pet: Atlas. My least favorite pet: No one.
18) My favorite non-powered human: Jessica Yamada. My least favorite non-powered human: Bryce.
19) My favorite ex ABB member: Bakuda. My least favorite ex ABB member: Oni Lee.
20) My favorite Birdcage prisoner: Amy. My least favorite Birdcage prisoner: Lung.
21) My favorite father: A tie between Danny and Marquis. My least favorite "father": fucking Heartbreaker, man, fuck him. Just fuck him.
22) My favorite mother: Purity. My least favorite mother: almost every single mother who appeared so far.
23) My favorite Endbringer: Simurgh. My least favorite Endbringer: Behemoth.
24) My favorite Traveler: Sundancer. My least favorite Traveler:Perdition.
25) My favorite ship: canon: Grue/Skitter. Noncanon: Skitter/Tattletale. My least favorite "ship": A tie between Panacea/Broken Glory Girl and Skitter/Self Loathing.
26) My favorite ex New Wave member: Panacea. My least favorite ex New Wave member: Brandish.
27) The most competent parahuman so far: A tie between Skitter, Miss Militia and Legend. The most incompetent parahuman so far: UberLeet.
28) My favorite Classification: The formidable and always fascinating Tinkers. My least favorite Classification: Brutes. Only because their powers are kind of boring and not very versatile.
29) My favorite and least favorite Dragonslayer: No one. I don't know any of them except for Saint and I don't know him well enough either.
30) My favorite vigilante:Iron BatMan, better known as Defiant. My least favorite "vigilante": Shadow Stalker (she failed both as a hero and vigilante).
31) My favorite Bitch from the Trio of Bitches: either DEAD Sophia, DEAD Emma or DEAD Madison. My least favorite Bitch from the Trio of Bitches: either ALIVE Sophia, ALIVE Emma or ALIVE Madison.
32) My favorite AI/Robot: Dragon. My least favorite AI/Robot: Bonesasw's spiders robots.
33) My favorite Ninja/Assassin:.....Ok, I forgot which one is but I know that I have a favorite ninja. My mind plays tricks on me right now. Sorry.
Tomorrow I'll continue with the next Chapter. Good night and sleep well, my friends.
Hello, my sweethearts. Just finished one of my favorite Interludes in this story and now I have to continue with Noelle Wars series with Eidolon Menace episode. Speaking about Jessica Interlude, I'm going to be bothered a lot if two things will happen (or will not happen) until the end of Worm. First: if someone will ever hurt Jessica and if Sveta will not get a cyborg/prosthetic body (I don't care who'll create this body for her, I just want her to have a human body and BE HAPPY ). I'm gonna be terrible bothered, not just bothered. I hope that I'll read more Interludes where characters are analyzed from other people's POV, because these Interludes are the kind of my favorite ones. My friend who recommended me Worm warned me that Ward will have more character analysis AND psychoanalysis than Worm and I'm hyper-excited, but I can't start Ward before I'll finish Worm, of course. I'm not an impatient person so I have no problem waiting. Besides, I love Worm a lot, its almost perfect the way it is. Alright, let's continue with Noelle clusterfuck and see if Eidolon will manage to convince her to accept Cauldron's "help" before they'll inevitably start fighting. I don't think that Noelle will believe him. She was fooled once, she's not stupid to be fooled again. Plus, she hates Undersiders too much to give up at her obsession of killing them just because Eidolon tries to make her come to her senses https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/02/09/queen-18-7/
"He's talking to her about Cauldron," I said. "And Coil." I'd signalled the others to exit the van, and we were gathered around Bentley and Bastard.
"Cauldron?" Tecton asked. "Cauldron worked out a formula that could give people powers, and the capes with monstrous features are the failed results," I said. "The Case 53s," Grace said. Tattletale nodded. I raised my finger to my lips. To where my lips were behind my mask, really. I wound up sliding my hands beneath the sides of my mask to plug my ears. I'd hoped to shut out other sounds and allow myself to focus. It wasn't too helpful. Tattletale murmured something to Grue, and he surrounded us with darkness, leaving a clearing so we could communicate. It took me a second to realize why. Were he and Tattletale hoping to mask us from Noelle's other senses? Rachel's dogs could smell through the darkness, couldn't they? It wouldn't stop Noelle if she really was smelling us. "…saying he knew them…" Noelle said. Is that a question? I was having trouble discerning tone. "…m saying exactly that, Noelle," Eidolon replied. "… … very beginning. Coil involved … … people who made you like this." "I don't believe… No." "Eidolon just said Coil was involved with Cauldron. And that Cauldron is responsible for Noelle," I informed the others.
Yes, I agree with Eidolon, Cauldron is indirectly responsible for Noelle. Yes, Simurgh started this whole butterfly effect bullshit but Cauldron CREATED this INSANE power in the first place, not Simurgh. Why they created such power that would be so hard to control by a human being even with the whole vial? I mean, Noelle's Passenger have a mind of its own, is half in control of her power (she's the first parahuman who basically share the same control with her Passenger; all others seem to be more in control of their powers than their own Passengers are, even Rachel; well, Elle is not in very much control of her power either but she's not nearly as dangerous as Noelle) This power is dangerous as fuck, why they would make something so dangerous, so freaking unstable? For which purpose? To fight against Endbringers? This is bullshit because only people who want to fight against Endbringers are fighting, nobody is forced. So, if their client would have bought this power, the Cauldron wouldn't have any assurance that the powered client will ever agree to battle an Endbringer. The client maybe won't give any shit about Endbringers and will stay aside, letting others to sacrifice their lives. Exactly what that fucker Skidmark did. Create super-dangerous powers for people to kill Endbringers even if they don't know for sure if the clients will accept to die for this noble cause or not. Cauldron's "logic". I think this is the reason why they keep a MONSTER like Manton alive. They expect him to fight Leviathan or Simurgh with the help of his naked "lady". Bullshit. This man is currently interested in destroying and killing as many souls as possible, just like his boss, not to protect civilians from Endbringers. He already lost everything when he destroyed his daughter's life, he's insane and dehumanized now. He's just as feral as the stripped "lady" he's projecting. Both Manton and Jack would be happy to see Endbringers helping them destroy the world faster. So, why let someone like Manton to escape, hoping that he'll be useful in the future? Gosh, the more I think about Cauldron's reasons to do what they're doing, the more I find almost everything they're doing mean, cruel, useless, unnecessary, a stupid Playing God bullshit (btw, my friend told me that she dislikes a lot Cauldron's methods and she only have a single favorite member- of course she didn't told me which one. And she knows about Cauldron's reasons- of course she doesn't tell me anything, I'm half wild guessing/half using my logic here , yet she still dislikes their methods even after finishing Worm).
"Another of Coil's schemes?" Grue asked. "But why would he make Noelle? What does that serve, really?"
"He didn't make her," Tattletale said. "But the rest is very possible." I'd spoken because I was worried I wouldn't get a chance later, between fatigue affecting my memory and the possibility of an imminent fight. I'd missed some of what Eidolon said in the process. "…help you." "I've had too many…" she said one word that was too complicated for me to make out. "…of help. Can't get my hopes … …" I was disappointed in how limited these senses of mine were. They wereuseful, but the tactile nature of my swarm-sense left me blind as to people's changes in expression, and listening in like this, I could only catch the individual speech sounds, working out how they fit together into words while trying not to fall too far behind. I wished I'd devoted more time to trying to figure out my swarm-sight and swarm-hearing. Eidolon said something, and I couldn't decipher the word. He paused, so I grasped that there was some meaning there. Ended with -tive or -shiv…prerogative? Alternative. It connected just as he started speaking again. "Do you want to die…" "Yes," Noelle's answer was clear. "I'm …red to die too," Eidolon said. There'd been another longer word in the middle there that I couldn't afford to stop and work out. "My danger sense tells me you … alone." "No," Noelle said. She bumped into more of my bugs as she shifted position, moving one large leg that was likely so thick around that three people together couldn't have reached around it with their hands meeting. The bugs disappeared from my power's senses. "Why don't you … us…" Eidolon said. Introduce. It only made sense as a question: Why don't you introduce us? "Show my hand…" "Why not…" Eidolon said, and I missed the tail end of it. Another question? I was starting to get a headache, trying to process all this. Something peeled away from Noelle's side, and when it bumped into my bugs, they weren't absorbed. The stature, the length of the hair… another Vista. I thought maybe Noelle had produced another clone, but others started to emerge from the surrounding architecture, peeling away from nearby walls as if they'd been inside the surfaces. And they weren't all Vistas. I noted the presence of what had to be a Circus, disproportionate and thin, with a hunched back, using her knuckles to walk. There was another Vista, two large figures who might have been Übers, and on the second floor of the building behind Eidolon there was a narrow young man, shirtless, with a gun bigger than he was. Leet. "…not expect you to … a trap," Eidolon said. He hadn't budged, and as far as I could tell, his tone of voice hadn't changed. Noelle didn't reply. From her vantage point, she had to be able to see through the open, glass-less window behind Eidolon, see the Leet silently setting up the gun. "Trouble," I said. Grue banished the darkness. "Trouble?" "She's ambushing him. There's a Leet with a gun inside the building behind him. Tinker made, has to be." "Eidolon knows what he's doing," Grace said. "And if he doesn't?" Tattletale asked. "If that gun just happens to be able to punch through any invincibility or whatever it is he's given himself?" "He's better than that," she said. "He's Eidolon." "He's human," I said. "Humans make mistakes."
Of course that Noelle wants to die, she have no reason to want to live anymore, she lost everything, even her own body, to the little monster alien inside her brains. All she wants now is to kill Undersiders and everyone else along with them (because I'm sure she won't stop once she'll finish with the people she hates the most) and if she'll be killed during her rampage, she will give zero fucks as long as her revenge will be fulfilled. I'm also glad to see that she doesn't trust Eidolon. I'll rather see her going all Endbringer over heroes/Undersiders and lose to them than to trust Cauldron, who'll use her for their objectives instead of curing her. She's not a naive young girl anymore. Its cute how Grace admires Eidolon so much but she have to remember that despite his 12344563689 powers, Eidolon is STILL A HUMAN, he's not a God (not even Scion is God) and as Skitter said, humans make mistakes. We're not perfect, no matter how OP some of us might be. We're beings made of flaws, errors, mistakes. I think that Eidolon will make a mistake (just like Armsmaster did with Leviathan) and Noelle will fuck him up. Or Trickster (I expect him to appear at any given moment to help his sweetheart) will fuck him up, there are some possibilities for Eidolon to be defeated, despite his aces up his sleeves.
"I'm with Grace on this one," Tecton said. "Too dangerous to go. She has a vendetta against you guys. It's not worth the risk that you'd throw his plan into disarray." "Then why are we here?" I asked. "If things fall apart," he said, "We can act then. Eidolon's powers are weakest just after he changes them. If she creates a clone of him, the clone will be picking the powers for the first time. There'll be a window of opportunity where we can take them out." "Assuming we can get close enough," Grue said. "And there's a good half-dozen capes around her," I said. "One Circus, one Vista that can apparently hide people in two-dimensional space, two Übers and the Leet with the gun." "We compromise," Tattletale said. "Skitter, draw arrows on the ground, discreet but easily readable. Point the way to the Leet, okay? The rest of us hang back, and we wait to make sure we can get Eidolon out of a bad situation if one crops up." I started to draw the arrows. I was going to ask why, but I realized I was missing what Eidolon and Noelle were saying. "…think you can win…" Eidolon said. "I hope I don't," Noelle replied. "… … want to die, why fight…" "Can't think straight. My … wiring is all screwed up. Won't let me give up. Too angry, too …less." Ruthless? Restless? Leet was still setting up. He'd had to find a point where there was an open door, just so he had enough space behind him that the weapon could be positioned horizontally. The design was crude, hodgepodge. It resembled Squealer's work, just going by what I was interpreting with my swarm-sense. That meant there was an excess of openings and gaps. The part that burned hottest had to be the power source. It was at the very back of the gun, at the point furthest from the mutant Leet. I sneaked cockroaches in through the gaps in the weapon's exterior and started them chewing through the wiring. "… … you so sure that you'll be any calmer when they're dead?" Eidolon asked. "I'm not. … I'm angry, and it's like the … have been taken off my emotions. My anger, my …tion, the pain, the hate, … so much deeper. … it's not mine. Not my emotion, so I can still think … ." "They're both stalling," I said. "Eidolon's picked the powers he thinks will win the fight," Tattletale said, "And is waiting for them to get up to full strength. Noelle's waiting for her evil-Leet to shoot."
Eidolon is planning a trap for Noelle and Noelle is planning a trap for Eidolon. Both are good battle tacticians and want to get rid of each other. Noelle have some UberLeet clones that might not be so incompetent like the original ones are since they work under her direct command, a Circus clone and another Vista clone who apparently can hide people in two-dimensional space (this new Scape's power reminds me of Cache's power and now I wonder if Noelle will not use her to "teleport" heroes in her two-dimensional space so they can't attack her anymore or even Noelle herself -in order to protect her if Eidolon attack will be too devastating for her). I mean, I think that some of the clones she made will help Noelle if she needs their help, acting like her shields in the same manner they act like weapons. After all, they're extensions of her, they're not independent individuals like the originals are. Noelle is a bit similar with Eidolon here: he have thousands of powers while Noelle can get thousands of powers if she eats enough parahumans (then she uses their powers through their clones). As for Noelle lamenting that her Passenger is taking over her emotions, I don't think she's right this time. Her Passenger only share almost the same control she have over her powers- if not more- but her emotions are still hers. She's the one who's filled with rage and anger and hate, not her Passenger (because the Passenger is an alien and can't understand and interpret human emotions in the same way a human can do). Maybe it can magnify her negative feelings so she's even more hateful than she'd have been without her Passenger's involvement, but she still have control over her emotions, she's the one who wants to shed Undersiders' blood, not some alien/parasite who don't know jack shit about human emotions. Maybe she truly believes that these emotions are not hers (because she never hated someone so much before and she can't believe that she's capable of such a strong negative feeling) or she wants to appear as a victim in front of Eidolon, hoping that he'll feel compassion and understanding for her plight and let his guard down so she can surprisingly attack him.
"I'm trying to sabotage the gun," I said. "But it looks like he'll be ready to shoot any second now."
Tecton and Grace simultaneously looked at one another, but they didn't speak. What was that about? Was their faith in Eidolon faltering as I described the situation, or was it more about me? "Less than a minute," Tattletale said. "I'm pretty sure we don't have that long," I retorted. The words had only just left my mouth when Leet dropped to a position at the side of the gun, putting one eye to the scope. The entire weapon shifted on the tripod mount as he aimed. Eidolon's head turned slightly, as if he were looking at Leet out of the corner of one eye. Leet pulled the trigger. "There we go," Eidolon said. The gun wasn't firing. He pulled the trigger again, and an arc of electricity ripped out from a space by the power supply, toasting half of the bugs I'd positioned on Leet and sending him sprawling to the ground. He was back on his feet seconds later, tearing one panel away to get at the sparking power supply. Tougher than a normal person. "Attack!" Noelle screamed. Her minions started to move on Eidolon, but it was Eidolon who acted on the command. He swept one arm out in front of him, as though he were brushing a curtain aside or waving away some bugs. There was a crash we could feelwhere we were huddled together, making the ground shake. In that very instant, Eidolon had killed the vast majority of the bugs I'd placed in the area. It took me a second to process what he'd done. The bugs that were still alive were unable to move, pressed hard against the ground to the point that they were sinking into the soft earth. Even the more durable cockroaches had died where the ground wasn't soft enough for them to be pushed down into it. Through the few surviving bugs, I could get a sense of what was happening. Tufts of weeds that had stuck up between slats in the pavement now laid flat against the ground, as though they'd been starched and ironed in place. The effect only lasted a few seconds. I tentatively moved more bugs into the area to do an inspection, found the air both dense and strangely warm. The ground had shifted, and both the pavement and the concrete panels of the sidewalk had cracked. Chunks of rubble had been pulverized, piles of debris pancaked against the ground. Plywood, siding and wood paneling had been torn from the faces of nearby buildings, rendered into unrecognizable fragments of wood and plastic. Each fragment had been mashed flat or shoved into cracks and crevices. The Übers and the Circus were dead, pulverized against the ground with their limbs broken in multiple places, their chest cavities and skulls cracked like eggs. The Vista was nowhere to be seen. Eidolon hadn't moved, and a tentative search told me that Noelle was still standing. My swarm noted the presence of blood dripping to the ground beneath her massive body. Eidolon said something, but I didn't have enough bugs in the area to hear him. "He just crushed everything around her," I said. "Almost as if he dropped a house-sized, invisible anvil around her." "Around Imp?" Tattletale asked, gripping my arm. "Around Noelle," I said. "What do you mean, Imp?" "The building where Leet was-" Tattletale started, grabbing my arm, "Did he hit it?" "No." "Turn the arrows around! Give every warning you can! We just sent Imp in there to deal with Leet!" I did as she asked, using every bug I could to draw warnings, turning the arrows to point to a retreat. "Damn it!" Grue said, "Why did we send her in there!? We need to get in there, in case anyone-" "Stay," Tecton warned, "Evacuate your teammate, but don't get in Eidolon's way." There was another crash. Once again, the vast majority of my bugs in Noelle's vicinity disappeared. Only a small few who were lucky enough to be in the right place and tough enough to endure the pressure survived. The bugs who had been flying above Noelle sank into her flesh. Through them, I could sense her advancing, moving one massive leg forward, relaxing and letting the pressure Eidolon was generating slam the limb into pavement with enough force to crack it. Then she moved another leg forward. Eidolon floated higher, maintaining the same relative distance between himself and her. She dropped lower to the ground, as though she were succumbing to the pressure, then leaped in the same instant the last of the bugs who'd sunken into her flesh were absorbed. I couldn't follow what happened next. There was another crash, another earth-shaking rumble, and even the bugs who'd survived before were obliterated, leaving me utterly blind. I moved a few bugs closer, to gauge if the effect was still active, and they died as though they'd moved beneath a falling hammer, going splat against the ground at the effect's edge. Behind Eidolon, Leet had finished fixing the gun, helped by the fact that the electricity had killed my saboteur-cockroaches. In the same instant he moved to take position by the trigger, Eidolon turned around, raising one hand in his direction. And Imp was there. She drew her knife across the psycho-Leet's throat. Eidolon froze as Leet staggered and slumped against the windowsill, blood pouring from the open wound.
Eidolon wasn't impressed by Noelle's attempt to distract him as he DESTROYED THE HELL OUT OF her clones, except for Leet (who was killed by a random ninja, btw ) and Scape, who's probably hidden inside her two-dimensional space. I think he used some kind of gravity manipulation, increasing the gravitation around Noelle and crushing her clones. If Eidolon can use 3 powers at the same time and he have ALL the powers, why he doesn't use a powers similar with Tattletale's power (to help him find Noelle's weak points)+ a precog power (so he will know when Noelle will attack him again)+ one similar with Scrub's power (to erase parts of Noelle until he'll reach those weak points and destroy them permanently)? Or he should empower himself with ridiculous super-luck+ something like Scrub's power+ something like Clockblocker's power= He'll avoid any Noelle's attack thanks to his super-luck, he'll touch her legs and freeze her in place so she can't follow him and erase parts of her until nothing will be left for her to regenerate. Eidolon have almost limitless possibilities to defeat Noelle by himself and if he doesn't use at least one of the best combo when it comes to facing such monster (knowledge+ luck/superhuman agility+ instant kill) then he's not such a great battle strategist or he doesn't have all the powers, only a part of them (its also a possibility that he's currently too weak to tap into new powers). His strategy with gravity manipulation was ok, but only Noelle's clones died, Noelle is still as powerful and dangerous and angry as ever. Give Eidolon's powers to Skitter and Noelle will cease to be a threat in like...5 minutes.
I felt a momentary confusion. Leet was dead? Eidolon seemed to be reeling as well, but he recovered faster. He wheeled around to strike out with the effect again.
"Leet's dead," I said. "How?" Tattletale asked. "Throat slit." "Imp. She's not listening to instructions. Did Eidolon attack Leet?" I shook my head. She released my upper arm from the death grip she'd been maintaining since Eidolon had attacked. It wasn't like her to get that upset. She usually had more information to work with, so she had a better idea of what was going on, but that couldn't account for her full reaction. I wished I could read her expression. Leet slumped almost entirely out the window. In a dying gesture, he feebly reached out for the end of the gun, gripping the barrel. When he fell from the window, he kept hold of the gun. The tripod skidded, and momentum coupled with Leet's weight pulled the gun after him. Eidolon glanced over one shoulder at the body falling from the second floor window, then soared straight for the sky. I was already sliding from Bentley's back, heading toward the ongoing battle. The movements, Eidolon's reaction, everything spoke to something deliberate, something devastating on Leet's part. The weapon's power supply detonated on contact with the ground. I didn't have many bugs in the area to track it, only experienced a momentary sensation from the bugs in the area, much like I sensed when they were burned or electrocuted. When the sensation disappeared, they were gone, dead. I could see the actual explosion, a flare of white that I could most definitely make out with bug eyesight and with my own damaged eyes, a glow that rose above the buildings around us. "No," Grue said, just behind me. The both of us had stopped in our tracks in the wake of the explosion. My bugs flooded into the area, to give me a better sense of what was happening. I caught Noelle stampeding toward a tall building. She had been in the blast radius, and she hadn't slowed down. I hoped she hadn't slowed down, because she was damn fast. She wasn't in Leviathan's speed class, but she was moving at the sort of speed I might expect from a car on the highway. Maybe the comparison wasn't so apt, because she was a living thing. Like a predator, she shifted from a standstill to eighty miles an hour in a heartbeat. She was more like a rhino than a jungle cat, though, and she was ungainly. My bugs could track the vibrations of her footfalls better than they could trace her outline, and I could sense how her movements weren't synchronized. There was no pattern to how her legs moved; rather, it was as if each leg had a mind of its own. Still, the sheer power of her movement carried her forward, while having six or more legs meant she always had several feet on the ground for balance. She reached the base of the tallest skyscraper in the area and scaled it just as fast as she'd moved over ground. Chunks of concrete were pulled and clawed away as each of her feet found or made footholds. The debris fell in her wake, but her movement was steady and unfaltering. Eidolon turned her way, laid down that same pressure he'd applied earlier, tearing a full third of the building to the ground. A large part of the upper floors cast straight down, torn free of the building's housing. The debris moved straight down with such force that it punched through as many as five or six of the floors below. Noelle was already moving out of the way as the attack landed, circling around to the other side of the building, still climbing. She reached the top before the dust from Eidolon's destruction rolled past us. I held my breath. I couldn't afford another coughing fit. We made our way to the spot where their fight had started. Where Eidolon's power had struck, the pavement had depressed until it was a good two feet lower than where we were standing. "Imp," Grue breathed the word, stepping down to the depressed pavement and breaking into a run as he headed for the explosion site. Tattletale gave me a hand in stepping down as we followed. It wasn't necessary, but I didn't turn her down. The explosion had shattered one exterior wall of the building, and scorched the inside. My swarm fanned out to search the building's interior. It didn't take long to find her on the second floor; she was so caked in dust and debris that I'd almost mistaken her for a piece of wreckage. "Second floor, near the back. Stairwell is this way." Noelle, I realized, was vomiting from one of the three mouths on her lower body. The slurry contained a human being, naked, with ulcerous growths all over her body. Circus. And Noelle wasn't in contact with Circus. "Fuck me," I said. "Is she hurt?" Grue asked. It took me a second to realize he meant Imp. I shook my head. "I don't know. I was swearing because… It's Noelle. She's creating clones, and she apparently doesn't need to be in constant contact to do it." "She does," Tattletale said. "Everything the Travelers said indicated it, and my power corroborated. She's touched people before and hasn't produced any of them in the time she was with Coil." "Maybe it's a short duration thing," I said. We'd reached the staircase. I was a little slower than my teammates in ascending the stairs. My stamina was nowhere near where it needed to be, and my chest was aching as I breathed harder. It made talking harder. "She absorbs someone and she can create clones for a little while after." "Maybe," Tattletale said. We reached the top of the staircase. The floor wasn't entirely intact at the landing, so Bitch and her dogs hung back. With the damage the explosion had done to the exterior wall, I could feel the saltwater scented air stirring my hair. We reached Imp's side. She'd slumped against an intact wall. I worked with Grue to clear away the pieces of wood and concrete that had joined Imp in being thrown against the wall. "Turn around," Tattletale ordered Tecton and Grace. Tecton listened. When Grace didn't immediately obey, he grabbed her by the shoulder and forced her around. Grue took off Imp's mask. My bugs traced her, and I could sense the trail of blood running from one of her ears. "Hey," Aisha murmured. "Owie." "Are you hurt?" I asked. "Ear hurts. Hurt all over where I hit the wall." "That ear's a ruptured eardrum," Tattletale said. "Shitty," Aisha said, "Least I save money, not having a reason to buy surround sound when I get my own entertainment system." "You're not so lucky. It'll heal," Tattletale said. "Did you hit your head?" Grue asked. "No," Tattletale and Imp answered in the same moment. Grue smacked his sister lightly across the head. "Idiot! You're supposed to listen when we give you orders." "I know why you were giving that order," Imp said. "You wanted me to clear out in case he smooshed this building. Except I knew I couldn't get out fast enough. I figured I'd take out that gun guy." "Leet," I supplied. "Leet, yeah." Grue cuffed her across the head again. "Hey!" Aisha said. Then she cringed, or winced, as if she was in pain. "Ow." "What?" In a quieter voice, she said, "Ear hurts when I speak too loud. Stop hitting me. It was the right call." "You still didn't listen," Grue said. He took the mask from Tattletale and helped Aisha put it on. "Get up." Imp stood, then wobbled. "Dizzy." "Ruptured eardrum will do that," Tattletale said. "Let's go. We should see what we can do to help against Noelle." Grue and Tattletale supported Imp between them as we made our way to the stairwell. I turned my attention to the fight. "Eidolon's holding his own." "Told you," Grace said. "He's using that pressure-" "Gravity," Tattletale said. "Right. He's using supercharged gravity to try to pin her down and simultaneously take out any of the clones she spits out. He's staying out of reach with flight, and he said something before about a danger sense. Precognition, I guess?" "Didn't help him stop the explosion," Regent commented. "It let him move well out of the way before it went off," I said. "And it's helping him when Noelle tries to trick him. She's… I don't even know how to put it. She's wearing a Vista that can turn two-dimensional, and the Vista is helping keep her other clones alive. Whenever Eidolon moves like he's about to drop that gravity magnification on them, she folds Noelle's clones against whatever surface they're touching and then pastes herself into Noelle." "Can we help Eidolon by taking the Vista out?" Grue asked. "I don't know how we'd get the Vista without attacking Noelle," I said. "Eidolon can hold onto about three serious powers at a time," Tecton said. "If he's packing flying, danger sense and gravity manipulation, that's it. Sometimes he does four, but two or three of them are usually pretty minor. Enhanced accuracy, whatever." "Unless the flying's an extension of the gravity manipulation," Tattletale pointed out. "I'd guess he's maintaining a kind of power immunity, in case Noelle manages to close the distance or one of her underlings tries to hit him from range." I could follow the fight as Noelle leaped to another rooftop. Being airborne, she might have been vulnerable if Eidolon had been able to devote his full attention to her, given how it wasn't possible to dodge while midair, but she'd timed the jump to coincide with a killer-Circus's pyrokinetic attack on Eidolon. The hero destroyed the Circus with a use of his gravity power, and I could guess that the same power had destroyed any incoming fireballs she'd thrown his way, because he wasn't even touched by any hot air. The top floor of the building the Circus had been standing on was still collapsing as he directed another gravity-slam in the direction of Noelle's landing point. She was already moving on, leaping to a building face that Eidolon wouldn't have a line of sight to. The degree of mobility the pair had meant it was hard to get bugs in a position where I could follow what was going on. I moved the bugs up through the various buildings, spreading them out as best as I could. In tracking the movements of the bugs through the buildings, I got a sense of where Eidolon had done damage and where the civilians were. "He's doing a fantastic job of avoiding hitting any civilians when he uses his powers."
Imp, you're giving me (and your brother) a heart attack. You almost died two times. Two fucking times in a row. I can understand Grue perfectly for being so pissed since he was so scared that the Battle of Titans could have killed you, you dumb little ninja. Yes, she's brave as fuck and she killed Leet without any hesitation, but she's also incredible and sometimes annoyingly reckless- she's that kind of person who first ACT, then THINK. She's opposite to the more calculated and pragmatic Grue. I'd hate if Imp will ever die, despite her impulsive (and sometimes stupid) decisions. Btw, as a Game of Thrones fan, I can see some similarities between Imp and my second GoT favorite character, Arya. Both of them are very young girls, incredible badass and fearless, ready to do anything they can (including murder) to protect/avenge people they care for, they don't like to be patronized by anyone (not even by their own family), they're impulsive and reckless sometimes, plus more intelligent than they appear at first glance/people give them credit. They both kill only people who deserve this special treatment, they have a heroic heart, despite playing the villain/assassin card. Plus, they have powers that make them unnoticeable: Imp can make herself forgotten and Arya
can shapeshift into her victims
I think they'll get along well in a weird Worm/GoT crossover fanfic. I love Imp more and more, especially when I noticed how much she reminds me sweet Angel of Death Arya Stark.
I'm surprised that Tattletale's power doesn't tell her anything about the fact that Noelle ate her victims, keeping them in her huge stomach. I mean, I don't have Tattletale's power, yet I find easy to imagine that Noelle must keep them in her stomach for a couple of reasons: she keeps growing, showing that she needs space in her stomach to store her victims, she needs to be in contact with them so she can clone them (Cody touched her 3 times and she cloned him 3 times). Of course that Tattletale doesn't know about Cody but her power must tell her how Noelle's cloning process is actually working. She's the girl who instantly know everything about everyone just by looking at them/having some vague pieces of information about them, right? Or, if Noelle's Passenger somehow have the power to block Tattletale's Passenger from getting information about Noelle, at least Tattletale can use her non-powered deduction skills and figure out why Noelle is getting so big right after she captures more and more people. Where she keeps them? Why Circus (who have the power to summon sharp/flammable things from a hammerspace) can't escape if she's tied up and locked somewhere (in a building, for example)? They have powers, nothing can stop parahumans to escape from places that are not Birdcage...or Noelle's enchanted stomach (Skitter escape from a BUILDING IN FIRE, for God sake). Come on, Tattletale or Skitter, use your damn logic.
"Told you," Imp said, mimicking Grace's tone, in the same moment Grace said, "Of course."
Imp laughed, then winced at the pain it caused her. "Could be an extension of his danger sense," Tattletale suggested. We'd reached the stairwell, and the others declined to go back for the van. Imp and I got on Bentley's back. I sat behind Imp so I could help keep her from falling. We weren't broadcasting it to Tecton and Grace, but I wasn't in great shape, myself. Even if Bentley wasn't the most comfortable way to travel with a cracked rib, it still beat running. I pointed the way, and we headed for the site of the battle. I wasn't exactly sure what we could do. This was a fight between titans. Eidolon had hit Noelle a thousand times as hard as any of us were capable of, and she hadn't even slowed down. I was getting increasingly worried that there was some factor here that would decide the battle, something I should grasp but wasn't. It didn't help that both Noelle and Eidolon had powersets that I didn't fully understand. Noelle was apparently pulling clones out of nowhere, despite not having contact with Vista or the other villains. Getting a sense of any given power and accounting for all the possibilities was hard enough, but Eidolon had a bunch of them at any given time, and they could change. Eidolon struck at one cluster of clones that were lurking in a half-destroyed building, then hit himself with a gravity attack. He and his costume were left untouched, but the bugs I had on him were annihilated. I was left blind. Why? The attack was pointless. There hadn't been any of Noelle's servants in the area. Was he sending me a message? Did he want us to back off? Noelle was consistently managing to avoid being struck by any of the gravity attacks, or scrambling out of the way of trouble after sustaining a glancing blow. She was keeping tall buildings between herself and Eidolon. He used the gravity manipulation where he could. He had changed up his tactics, sending chunks of building flying, then spiking them down to the ground with the gravity-slams. He wasn't changing powers, though, even though Noelle had adjusted to them. It was very possible he couldn't: that if he gave up one power for another one more suited for the situation, he'd be too vulnerable while it grew to full power, or it would be too hard to catch up after the fact. One of the heads of Noelle's lower body vomited up a slurry of flesh, with two naked bodies in the midst of it. A Vista covered in fingernail-like plates of hard flesh and a Leet with one forearm and hand as big as his torso. The two clones were on their feet in seconds. The Vista ran in Eidolon's direction, while the Leet made a beeline for a nearby mall entrance. I sent a swarm of bugs after them, focusing predominantly on going after Leet. They weren't fast, but they would hopefully interfere with his efforts to build anything. We arrived at the edge of Eidolon and Noelle's battlefield. As I drew a swarm together with the bugs in this new area, I found Eidolon and tagged him with some houseflies and wasps. Best if I knew if he was moving in our direction, so we could clear out of the way. "Circle around," I said. "We keep eyes on one another, but our goal is to clean up clones wherever we can, so we need a broad perimeter." "Got it," Grue said. Tecton nodded as well. Rachel signaled, and Bentley ran. Tecton and Grace moved as one pair, while Regent, Grue and Tattletale formed another group. The Leet had entered a mall. The place had been looted, but he stopped somewhere long enough to grab some basic clothes. He wrenched a piece off a clothing rack and used the ragged end to cut a sleeve off and open up the shoulder enough that he could fit his oversized left hand through it. The activity bought my bugs enough time to catch up to him. As they attacked, he started thrashing. I was in the middle of changing my focus to other things when I noticed something curious. A rat. The rat itself wasn't so unusual. Large for its size, maybe. But it had moved in the same general direction as my swarm, and it was wet with fluids. The vomit? I'd been flying bugs over surfaces at a height sufficient to catch humans. It was a waste of energy and bugs to fly them over the ground level, when I generally knew that a road was flat, and any obstacle that was shorter than one or two feet wasn't worth dwelling on. Moving my bugs closer to the ground, I found more. Rats, wet with the fluids of Noelle's vomit. She'd absorbed rats? She wasn't limited to cloning people. I made a point of searching the vermin out and killing them with my bugs. I'd played exterminator once before. Not over so large an area, but I'd done it. I pointed the way to Noelle, and Rachel changed direction. Eidolon was dealing with the last Vista-clone that Noelle had spawned. The girl wasn't going on the offensive, but she was using her power to move quickly, using every spare moment to raise lumps of pavement and concrete from the ground, sculpting them into rough images of Noelle. It would be sunrise, now, but in the dim light, they would be something that distracted Eidolon and potentially drew his fire. He paused in his attempted murder of the mutant girl and eradication of the statues, striking himself with another gravity-slam. Again, he killed every insect I had on him. Was he aware of something we weren't? Noelle turned toward a group of people who were evacuating one of the buildings that had taken damage. Before I could open my mouth to shout a warning or take an action, she lunged into the lobby of the building. The people she touched were absorbed as quickly and easily as if she were quicksand. Some were almost drawn in. It took a minute and a half for her to form the clones within her. We closed the distance as her body swelled. When she'd reached critical mass, each of the three mouths on her lower body opened to heave out a tide of blood and gore, along with eighteen or twenty people. Half of the people she'd heaved out had clothes. The other half had mutations. The mutants were on their feet as soon as they could find traction in the sludge, the innocents seemed as though they could barely move. One of the people was Vista, I realized. Not a clone – she was costumed. An extremity, a tentacle or tongue, extended from one of Noelle's lower mouths to wrap around Vista's midsection. The girl was hauled into the mouth and swallowed in a flash.
Finally, Skitter noticed where Noelle is keeping the originals. Finally, someone noticed and approved what I figured out hundreds of years ago. Ok, time for the best combo in the history of battles. A combo between heroes and villains, of course. If Eidolon can't figure out which powers to use against Noelle in a very effective way, lets think at different characters who can put an end to this Living Cloning Factory. Clockblocker can freeze Noelle's legs, Weld can get close to her (since she can't capture and clone him), turns his hands into blades and cut through her stomach, pulling everyone out. Then someone should bring Scrub and convince him to use his power to finish her off. I'm not sure if it was specified how big Sundancer can make her sun but if she can create it as large as Noelle, she can kill Noelle from a single hit (Noelle will not have time to regenerate since the sun will melt her body entirely). But there's a problem. Noelle was Sundancer best friend and I can't see Sundancer being ok with killing her ex-best friend. She's not so crazy/obsessed like Trickster to directly help Noelle (I'm surprised that Trickster didn't appeared yet but he still have time to "shine"), but she's not going to help her enemies to destroy her. She'll not do anything and I'm not going to blame her for her decision, but I'll be mad if someone will force her to kill Noelle; she should not be compelled to do something that she'd hate to do, its up to her choice. If she'll still refuse, despite how many awful things Noelle will do, then they should think at other strategy to defeat the Proto-Endbringer. Scrub is still an available last weapon of Noelle-mass destruction.
"What?" Tattletale asked. "The capes she keeps spitting out. Circus, Über, Leet and Vista. She's holding the four of them inside her, so she can keep creating more clones." "She doesn't have to let people go," Tattletale said. "Fuck me. We won't be able to kill her without killing whoever she's holding inside her." As the mutant clones around Noelle began to thrash and strangle the near-helpless victims, their maker shifted position, stepping on arms and legs. Her body was oriented more towards Eidolon. I wasn't willing to sacrifice bugs to know her exact position, but I got the sense she was looking up at him, despite the fact that there were several buildings between her and him. She made contact with the bugs I had in her immediate vicinity as she twisted her body to look towards us. Then she ran in the other direction. "We rescue the people she just vomited out, clear away the clones," I said. I used the bugs I'd gathered near the other two groups to speak to them. "Then we signal Eidolon and chase Noelle. We need to get in contact with the heroes. Whatever Eidolon's plan is, it's not working." I could track the rats that were crawling out of the vomit. A dozen of them, and they were homing in on people, savagely biting and clawing into any flesh they found. I made sure to cluster my bugs in as dense a swarm as I could afford, to keep them contained. The bugs I didn't devote to the task worked to disable and distract the more mundane clones. I might have missed it if I hadn't had the bugs pressed together to contain the rats. I had missed it already, countless times. Wasps, hornets and cockroaches were crawling free of the slurry of flesh that Noelle had vomited into the building's lobby. They were attacking my bugs and any people they found. I couldn't sense them, and I couldn't control them.
I think Tattletale is not very happy about the fact that Skitter figured out something that she clearly missed. Since she values her own intelligence so much, her spirit must be crushed right now but she won't tell a word about to Skitter "hugs Tattletale with sympathy". Yes, Skitter, Eidolon is not that great- like you- when it comes to battle strategy and yes, Skitter, you have to save the people from inside Noelle before you'll try to kill her. All of them, even Circus and UberLeet. Yes, they're villains who worked for Coil, but they're not that bad like other supervillains in this story (they're not S9 or nazis material) so I think they deserve a SLIGHT second chance. Weld is the best chance for them to ever see the sunlight again.
PS: Looking at tags, I noticed new codenames for Circus, Leet and Uber clones. I suppose Carnie is for Circus, Pwn for Leet and Unter for Uber. Lol, I love these codenames for clones, funny shit lol:lol
I think there was an important bit of information about Eidolon's power in Legend's interlude, during the cauldron meeting. It was only one or two lines so it is easy to miss out, but i think it would help you understand the way he fights a bit more. (I can look it up for you if you don't want to waste time just to read a couple of words)
Eidolon doesn't pick the powers he uses, he basically tells his power what he needs and his power gives him three powers. The powers he gets are not always the absolute best choices, although they're usually relevant to the situation.
You're right that Eidolon is not the greatest at using his power though. There's an interlude from his point of view later that shows exactly how his power works, and how he's not really using it to it's full potential.
I can't believe I forgot about Tattletale when I mentioned the most competent parahuman . What she did to Coil is far more competent and brilliant than everything Legend and Miss Militia did so far. I DARE to call myself Tattletale biggest fan yet but I leave her aside when I'm talking about important stuff. Shame on me.
I think there was an important bit of information about Eidolon's power in Legend's interlude, during the cauldron meeting. It was only one or two lines so it is easy to miss out, but i think it would help you understand the way he fights a bit more. (I can look it up for you if you don't want to waste time just to read a couple of words)
Are you talking about Eidolon complaining that his powers are getting weak? I remember that he said that he's getting weaker and weaker even if Doctor Mother continues to give him serum. Its like something is draining his power. I picture his Passenger as the most powerful Passenger so far but incapable to survive for a long time (maybe it is sick or can't adapt to Eidolon's brains/nervous system) and everytime when Eidolon becomes weaker, his Passenger dies a little until it will die completely, letting its host powerless. Or maybe his Passenger can't tolerate that a mere human is allowed to have so much power and prefer to sabotage his host, just like what Leet's Passenger is doing to him (its easy to notice that Leet had the potential to be the most powerful Tinker in the world if it wasn't for his Passenger being such an alien ass). Aliens want humans to have powers, but not to be so powerful (maybe they're afraid that humans might turn against them one day if they have too much power in their hands). Maybe one of these theories is not too far far-fetched .
Eidolon doesn't pick the powers he uses, he basically tells his power what he needs and his power gives him three powers. The powers he gets are not always the absolute best choices, although they're usually relevant to the situation.
You're right that Eidolon is not the greatest at using his power though. There's an interlude from his point of view later that shows exactly how his power works, and how he's not really using it to it's full potential.
So, he doesn't pick the powers he uses? Ok, thanks for information, I was under the impression that he personally chooses what power he needs during certain battles. But why he can't tell his power that he wants to know Noelle's weakness so he can get Tattletale level of information about her? Knowledge is the true power and Eidolon should use this fact in his (and others) advantage. Yes, you're right, he doesn't seem to know how to use his great power properly. Now imagine Skitter with his power. Then ask yourself how much Noelle would survive to someone with Skitter's excellent war techniques+ Eidolon's powers .
Are you talking about Eidolon complaining that his powers are getting weak? I remember that he said that he's getting weaker and weaker even if Doctor Mother continues to give him serum. Its like something is draining his power. I picture his Passenger as the most powerful Passenger so far but incapable to survive for a long time (maybe it is sick or can't adapt to Eidolon's brains/nervous system) and everytime when Eidolon becomes weaker, his Passenger dies a little until it will die completely, letting its host powerless. Or maybe his Passenger can't tolerate that a mere human is allowed to have so much power and prefer to sabotage his host, just like what Leet's Passenger is doing to him (its easy to notice that Leet had the potential to be the most powerful Tinker in the world if it wasn't for his Passenger being such an alien ass). Aliens want humans to have powers, but not to be so powerful (maybe they're afraid that humans might turn against them one day if they have too much power in their hands). Maybe one of these theories is not too far far-fetched .
Why they created such power that would be so hard to control by a human being even with the whole vial? I mean, Noelle's Passenger have a mind of its own, is half in control of her power (she's the first parahuman who basically share the same control with her Passenger; all others seem to be more in control of their powers than their own Passengers are, even Rachel; well, Elle is not in very much control of her power either but she's not nearly as dangerous as Noelle) This power is dangerous as fuck, why they would make something so dangerous, so freaking unstable?
The vial Noelle drank was actually a mixture of two samples, as mentioned in 17.06. One sample was Division, the actual power; the other was Balance, intended to rein in Division and keep it under control. When Noelle drank half the vial, she got almost all of Division and absolutely no Balance, which is why her power is so out of control. Cauldron is aware this can be a problem, which is why on the paperwork they say several times to under no circumstances split a vial. Krouse and Noelle just weren't thinking straight thanks to the Simurgh.
"We can't afford to say it's not," Legend said. "You have precogs among your staff and customers?"
"Some," The Doctor answered. "I can ask them about this end of the world scenario."
Legend nodded. "Good. Eidolon, you want to try your hand at it?"
"If my power lets me. It only gives me what it thinks I need, not what I want."
Hello, buddies. What we have here? Looks like...another Worm Chapter. Last time, Noelle started to clone bugs and rats and Skitter discovered the TWIST OF THE TWISTS: Noelle keeps her victim in her stomach where she clones them constantly. Skitter- Tattletale 1-0. She guessed this shit before Miss Wikipedia but still she isn't the winner here. I guessed the shit before her so... I was thinking (cause I like to think): who else, besides Scrub and Sundancer, will be able to kill someone who regenerate even faster than Crawler? I have two other parahumans in my mind. Lung and Amelia. Unfortunately, both of them are locked in Birdcage and can't do jack shit in this fight. Don't laugh, please, but I think that Lung can give Noelle a hard time, because he becomes stronger and bigger as he keeps fighting. If he can get big enough, he can engulf Noelle in a firestorm and burn her completely, without giving her any chance to regenerate. He's strong but he sucks at battle strategies (this is the only reason why Skitter managed to defeat him two times). He's a zero strategist and can be defeated by weaker parahumans even if he's actually one of the strongest ones. This is his weakness, he's smart while doing illegal businesses, but act completely stupid during a fight. Noelle will defeat (and clone him) before he'll get big and strong enough. But he have the potential. As for Amelia, she can simply let herself being shallowed by Noelle and when she's inside her stomach, touch her stomach and fuck her biology forever, turning the mighty monster into a harmless puddle of goo. Amelia can easy destroy Noelle with a single touch. But she's in jail, Dragon is too busy to notice what is going on in the City of Monsters and release her in order to help, besides Amelia will rather stay behind bars than save people, since she doesn't care about anything anymore after she destroyed her sister's life. So, Scrub, move your smelly druggie ass and stop Noelle before she'll turn the City of Monsters into a memory!
Speaking about Lung, I noticed that Jessica's last name is japanese: Yamada. I'm so GLAD that asian people have, finally, a good representation in this story because so far they're depicted as mobs, thugs, mafia leaders and assassins. Asian needs a positive character and they got one. Now I'm waiting for germans to get one too Queen 18.8
I signalled Bitch to stop so I could communicate with the others.
"I fucked up," I said. "What?" Grue asked. "How?" "She's been absorbing my bugs. She's spitting out some, and I can't control them. They're methodically destroying my swarm, and they're hunting down people and attacking them." "She probably absorbed some before she even ran into us," Tattletale said. "And she just needs one of a given type to make copies. I wouldn't blame yourself." "Did she absorb hornets, black widows, brown recluses?" "Maybe not," Tattletale admitted. "Okay," I said. "Because there's homicidal hornets and spiders out there now. Because of my fuck-up." "Don't focus on the mistake," Grue said, "Let's focus on making up for it." I took a deep breath. "Okay. Bitch and I will be going ahead to deal with some unpowered clones. I'll be in touch through the swarm. You guys keep moving forward, and I'll signal you about any clones that Eidolon or my bugs aren't able to take down." "Eidolon's gone quiet," Tattletale said. "He might be changing powers, chasing at a distance to safely keep track of her while he adjusts." "I'll try to signal him," I said. "Let him know we're here, and that we're engaging Noelle if and when we've managed the clones and we see an opportunity." "Hopefully he doesn't accidentally wipe us off the face of the planet," Regent joked. "Hopefully," I echoed him, except I wasn't joking. "Then I'll suggest that this can be where we part ways," Tattletale said. "I'll take Imp, I can do more good with a phone and computer, and she's no good to anyone right now." I nodded. I helped Imp climb down to the others. "Good luck." Bitch whistled, and Bentley sprang into motion once more. The people inside the building lobby were only now starting to recover from whatever Noelle's power had done to them. Their clones hadn't suffered any such drawbacks, though, and the abuse that had been heaped on the victims was more than making up for their recovery speed. They were helpless. None of the victims were standing. I reached forward, putting one hand on the chain that Rachel was using to keep Bastard close. She looked back at me. "Clothesline!" I raised my voice to be heard over the rushing wind. Rachel let some chain out and caught it under her left foot, forcing it lower. She managed to hook it on one of the growths of bone of Bentley's ribcage. We stampeded into the building lobby, through the hole Noelle had made, and Bitch whistled, flicking the chain as Bentley and Bastard passed through the space. "Left!" she shouted, while steering Bentley right. The chain was just low enough to catch the standing and crouching clones. The clones were caught by either the chain or by the bodies of their fellow clones, pulled back en-masse, drawn together into a tangle of bodies and distorted body parts. I moved my bugs through their midst to ensure they were all mutants. There was only one innocent who'd been dragged long with them. His clone had a grip on his clothing, and hadn't let go when the chain had caught it. "Getting down," I said, sliding off the dog's back. I hurried to the mass of clones before they could get themselves in order, drew my knife and slashed the hand that gripped the one innocent. I managed to pull him free without any of the clones hitting or grabbing me. I was left coughing by the exertion and the pain in my side. Bitch steered Bentley to put his bulk between me and the clones. "I got 'em," she said. "I'll handle the others," I told her. "Right," she grunted the word. "Bastard, hurt 'em! Bentley, kill! Kill!" The canines threw themselves into the mass of clones the chain had caught. There were three clones in the remaining group. One continued thrashing her alter-ego, while the other two stood to face me. I held my knife in one hand, drew my baton with the other and flicked it out to its full length. Not nearly as threatening as either of the canines, but I'd make do. It was odd that Rachel was having Bastard hold back, being limited only to a 'hurt' command. Come to think of it, she'd had Bentley do the killing when fighting the Vista-clone, too.
OMG, Noelle is cloning now civilians. This is worse than anything she did so far because parahumans are fighters and can defend themselves (they're like soldiers in the first line) while civilians don't have powers to protect themselves against such a monstrous menace and they're the most vulnerable people here. I'm always more worried everytime when civilians are involved. I wonder if Skitter can bring herself to kill cloned non-powered people since she already hesitated before she killed Radioactive Scape (someone who killed a hero in cold blood and wounded another one). But she have to kill them and save the originals, its something that everyone involved in this Horror Show Fight should do (clones are ALMOST people too, right, but they're insane, heartless, twisted versions of people and they want to kill their originals so...Skitter and Bitch should do whatever it is necessary to stop them forever). I think that Bitch refused to give Bastard "kill" command because: he's a very dangerous wolf+ he's not trained enough and she probably doesn't want for him to get used with killing before she'll finish his training. She's aware that she can create a bloodthirsty beast and she wants to prevent this from happening. Bitch changed in a better version of herself if I have to compare few Arcs ago Bitch with the actual one. I'm very ok with her change.
My rib throbbed even now, just from riding Bentley and hauling the one victim out of the mass. I was left breathing hard, though the exertion had been mild.
My stamina wasn't a tenth of what it might otherwise be, to the point that I was worried I might get dizzy, start coughing or wind up too tired to fight if it came down to a straight hand-to-hand brawl. I couldn't afford to take it easy, though. Where I might otherwise have tried to distract them or buy enough time for Bentley to finish off the others and deal with these guys, the person that the female clone at the back was thrashing wasn't going to last long. The two who were facing me were both men, both bigger and tougher than they might have been as humans, one fat, the other tall and broad-shouldered and narrow-waisted to the point of being a caricature. My swarm was my best offense and my best defense, here. My bugs went for eyes and ears, and that was excuse enough for the two mutants to charge me. They were half blind, and the mass of bugs that clung to me billowed out to mask my location. I started to move to my left, but I felt the fat one veer slightly in that direction and chose to head between them, instead. The pair stumbled forward into my swarm, arms swinging wildly in a blind attempt to hit me. I ducked low, then moved forward to the mass of fallen and wounded. The female clone had her more normal self by the neck, and was repeatedly raising her and slamming her down. If someone else's leg wasn't in the way, she might have had her head dashed against the ground. As it was, a beating was still a beating, and something vital was bound to give sooner or later. The clone looked up at me as I approached, still cloaked in a thick cloud of bugs. I realized why she hadn't stood to face me. Her left leg was gone, barely a flipper. She raised her arms in self defense, and I batted one aside with my baton before stabbing her just above the collarbone. They're not people. They're mockeries. The small, helpless sounds she made as blood bubbled around the throat-wound weren't helping my attempts to assuage conscience. Damn Noelle, damn her for making me do this. "You leave Steph alone!" the fat clone bellowed. The words caught me off guard as much as the fact that he'd seen the attack. He charged, and I swiftly backed up, bringing my weapons to the ready. He didn't come after me. He stopped by 'Steph', the one-legged clone with the fatal throat wound. "You care about her?" I asked. "She's Steph," he said. "I… what?" My train of thought was interrupted further by the snarling and gnashing of Bentley fighting the clones. One tried to break away from the group to come after me, but Bentley caught him, striking him flat against the ground with both front paws, like how a cat might pounce on a mouse. "She's Steph. She's Steph. Of course I care. Fucking bugs!" He lashed out with one arm, as if he could hurt the swarm, drive them away. His arms folded around the clone-Steph. I pulled the attacking bugs away, leaving only enough to track his movements. I wasn't sure I wanted to open up a line of dialogue, but my conscience couldn't afford to let me not. "But… what about the person she was beating up? You don't care about the real Steph?" "Ignored me. Looked down on me because I was fat. Fuck her," he spoke with such force that my bugs could feel the spit flying from his mouth. "She's still Steph, isn't she?" "Bitch. Brushing me off. Made it so we were friends, not boyfriend and girlfriend. Bitch," he said. He let the mutant-clone Steph drop limp to the ground, clenched and unclenched a fist. "Fuck her. Fuck you for killing Steph." "Why do this? Why hurt people?" "I'm a soldier," he said, his words dull. "It's what I am." I sensed his girth, used my swarm to sense his equally heavy alter-ego. "You… don't strike me as a soldier." "It's what I am." "Is… is he a soldier?" I gestured in the direction of his other self. "No. Fat fuck could never be a soldier. Kill him. Dig my fingers into that gut and rip and tear until he dies. Strangle him. No willpower, hide from the world behind that disgusting fat. Choke the life out of him. He's useless anyways. Waste of air, waste of a life." Projecting much? "And when he's dead? What will you do?" He moved toward me, and I backed away a step, bringing my bugs closer to him. He went still again, glanced around. "Kill others. Kill Dad and Mom and Sammy and the cats. Kill teachers and classmates and burn my house and burn the school. Fuckers. All of them. Looking down on me."
The clones are not just twisted versions of the originals, they're more like MEMORIES of the originals that happen to have a tangible body. They're the worst memories of the originals, as they always remember only the bad things that happened to them. They're self-loathing memories. They hate their originals, they hate the people who bullied/hurt/rejected them, they see themselves as something better than their originals. For example, the Fat Clone sees his original as someone weak and useless, someone who couldn't fight against people looking down at him, and all he wants is to kill him. He also sees Steph Clone as someone worth of him because she'll never reject him in the same way real Steph rejected him. But she's dead now (Skitter have no problem with killing clones which is a good thing ) and he's angry and pissed at the whole world: he just lost the only "woman" who could have accepted him. He hates his original self's family in the same way the Psycho Scape wanted to kill Vista's family. But...dude, why the hell do you want to kill the cats? They're fucking innocent, I doubt your original self's cats ever bullied him. Don't fucking kill cats, they're God's animals. Skitter, stop him before he'll do whatever he have in his Noelle- controlled simulacrum mind. He's not the real thing, he's only a twisted collection of the worst memories and uncontrollable evil impulses of the actual human being. He's not exactly a real human being, you should not feel guilty for killing him and saving those innocent cats.
His words struck a chord, and it was the closest experience I'd ever had to the sort of flashback that happened in the movies. I could remember being in the school bathroom, dripping with juice. Being so frustrated, so angry, so hurt that I just wanted to lash out.
Was that all he had left? Was that all he was? "And if they all die?" "Kill others. Burn this fucking disgusting city. Burn this fucking country. Keep burning, keep killing." "Do you really think that'll make anything better?" "No." "Then why? Is there any way I can get you to stop?" "No. Won't stop. I'm a soldier." "Whose soldier? Hers? Noelle's? The monster who spat you out?" "No." "And you?" I asked, turning so my back wasn't to the broad shouldered one in the midst of my swarm. He didn't answer. He charged for me instead. The obese one took the opportunity to come after me from a different angle. Again, I drew my swarm around me, put each of my bugs on the offensive to distract, and used my swarm-sense to figure out where they were moving, getting out of the way. Ducking low, I felt a sharp pain in my side. I grunted in pain and barked out a cough. The cough made me need to cough more, which only helped inform them of my position. The coughing fit took the strength out of me at a time when I needed to move most. Swimging blindly, the fat one struck me across the face. My mask absorbed the worst of the impact, and I stuck my knife out in his general direction, sticking it into the general area of his chest, hitting bone rather than anything substantial. "Bugs fucking hurt," he growled, apparently oblivious to the pain of the knife wound. "Stop it!" He swung again, but I managed to get out of the way. With the stinging, biting insects in his eyes, crawling into his mouth and nose as he talked to gag him, I managed to distract him enough that I could safely retreat. My entire body shook as I suppressed coughs, and I dropped to one knee to try and catch my breath. I hoped that being closer to the ground would mean I didn't get hit; I was too breathless to move out of the way if he swung a punch at me. The broad-shouldered one stepped close, his cheeks wet with the vitreous fluids of torn eyeballs and blood where my swarm had dug in deep. I suppressed another cough and slid my knife's blade against the back of his knees. It might not have cut deep enough if he'd been wearing clothes, but he was naked, and there was nothing to stop the knife. He collapsed just in front of me. I hesitated a moment, then stabbed my knife into the side of his throat. They're not real. Not real people. Bentley had finished tearing apart the other eight or so clones, and at Rachel's instruction was closing in on the fat clone. I moved my bugs to give her a clearer view. I was ready for him to make a break for it. He didn't. He turned toward us, clenching and unclenching his fist. There's no saving them. Whatever had happened to their heads while they were grown inside Noelle, they're twisted. Their perspectives are warped. "Stop him," I said. "Finish them, Rachel." Rachel whistled, and Bentley leaped. The clone tried to come after me, but didn't make it two steps before the dog got to him. "Feels wrong," I said. Rachel gave me a hand in climbing back up.
You did good, Skitter, you did very good. He was one of Noelle's soldiers and nothing more. He died like a soldier, protecting his general. You saved the cats, you're a FREAKING HERO (plus you saved his family, his colleagues and teachers and the whole country). I wonder how a Bitch Clone would react. She'll probably hate humans more than real Bitch hates them and will have paranoid thoughts about everyone wanting to hurt her cute Dogs Clones. She'll call herself Huge 8itch and will gradually show an insanely inflated ego. Plus, she'll get all the luuuuuuuuck...Ooops, I get carried away and mixed up the stories and characters, sorry. :lol Anyway, Clone Bitch won't be a good thing. Neither Clone Skitter (Clone Skitter will be fucking obsessed with killing Skitter; the real Skitter is already obsessed to hurt herself by hurling herself in the most dangerous situations possible. Clone Skitter will double the self-loathing, making it triple).
She didn't offer a reply. It wouldn't feel wrong to her.
I started searching with my bugs, looking in the direction Noelle had last gone. Without even the ability to tentatively feel Noelle out with my bugs, I was having trouble keeping track of her. Every passing minute meant that there was more sunlight, but even with that I couldn't see Noelle. It was as though a painter was working with white and black paint, throwing handfuls of it onto a canvas from three feet away. It didn't convey a picture so much as a blurry, indistinct abstract. I should have been able to follow movement, to track Noelle by the way the patches of light and dark changed. The issue was that there were countless things moving across my radius. Water was running where some streets were still draining, plastic bags blew in the wind and shadows shifted as the sun and clouds moved. Each changed the canvas, altered the blurry, muddy blotches of light and dark. I could hear Grue give an order, and his group started moving with purpose. "Grue just saw her, I think," I said. I pointed the way. I'd started another coughing fit by the time we caught up with the others, and I could feel my skull pounding as if it had a three pound heart inside of it instead of a brain. "She found some of the other capes who were holding position," Grue said, when I'd managed to get my breath. "Lights in the distance." "Fuck," I said. I was about to comment on how we were too close to Ballistic's headquarters for comfort, but remembered that Grace and Tecton were listening. I stopped myself before the words left my mouth and coughed instead. "You okay?" Tecton asked. "Little worse for wear." "Sounds like more than a little." I shook my head. As we got closer, I tentatively moved the bugs closer, until I had them on the flying heroes. I made an effort to discover and eliminate the hostile bugs that Noelle had created, and tried to find identifying details on the capes we were approaching. "One of the heroes is a guy with an emblem, I think it's a book with chains around it," I said. "Maybe Chronicler," Tecton said. "Three more flying ones," I said. "One with antlers on his chest emblem." "All guys?" Tecton asked. When I nodded, he said, "That'd be Strapping Lad, Intrepid, and Young Buck. And the one you mentioned before would definitely be Chronicler." "Seriously?" Regent asked. "Strapping Lad?" "They're from the Texas Wards team," Tecton said, as if that was explanation enough. "Lad, Intrepid and Buck are all about the harassment. Flying, teamwork, hitting hard and adjusting their battle plans to match the enemy threat level, staying out of danger." "Up until they get too close and she grabs one," I said. "Could happen," Tecton replied. "Eidolon's probably up there too, too quiet. Might be waiting for new powers to finish manifesting before he makes any moves." "What can we do?" Grace asked. "I remember those Wards from the Leviathan fight. Some of them," I said. "They fly? All of them?" "Yeah," Tecton said. "Then we support on the ground," I said. "You, Grue and maybe Regent can slow her down. Bitch keeps us mobile. We stay ready to move at a moment's notice if it comes down to it. Staying safe is a bigger priority than anything else." Noelle was limited to moving on the ground. It gave the young heroes a natural advantage: each of them flew, and two of the three were armed with long ranged tinker-made weapons. The guns weren't anything flashy or spectacular, more the kind of laser weapon that a fan of science fiction might create, but the young heroes apparently thought it was worth keeping up the onslaught, and the guns didn't appear to rely on any ammunition or reloading.
Wow, a new team of Wards. Texas Wards. Howdy, all y'all southern parahumans cowboys over there! Where are your hats, lads? (no, but seriously, Texas is one of my favorite american states+ I like people from there and their free and badass lifestyle -yes, I have a soft spot for rednecks too: peaceful rednecks NOT close minded or aggressive ones- and I'm glad that I get to know some TEXAN HEROES with awesome funny codenames :lol). Strapping Lad, Intrepid, and Young Buck seem to be able to fly and carry Tinker weapons so they can shoot Noelle/her clones from distance. A daring guess about Chronicler's power? Keep the chronological record of the current battle in his book, acting like a historian. Not a very useful power in this Horror Show Battle, so the second guess is something to do with time: travel back in time, help others to travel back in time, reverse the time for Noelle or his teammates, create time clones of himself, etc...
I'll be so pissed if my texan boys will die, only because they're so freaking cool. VIVA TEXAS!!! Look what I'm listening during Noelle/clones versus Texas Wards Battle
The one without the gun was apparently Young Buck, going by the raised image of antlers on his chest emblem. He would fly around Noelle, close to the ground, then turn himself, his gear and the bugs I'd placed on him into a living projectile. Or, maybe, he was using some kind of uncontrolled breaker power to go faster than the speed of sound, unable to change course or take any action while he traveled. Whatever he was doing, he flashed across the battlefield as a straight, living projectile before materializing again. The ground shook with his impacts he delivered to Noelle.
The one I took to be Chronicler was casting out a hazy field around himself and the other two with the guns. The field shifted, drifting closer to the ground, and then solidified in a semisolid image of the heroes, complete with the laser fire. A quick check with my bugs verified that the shots were just as real as what the real selves were creating. The aim wasn't so hot. It was more of a replay of the actions they'd just taken than proper clones. Young Buck moved beneath Chronicler, and passed through the field as he turned into a beam. When the images appeared, they mimicked the same beam attack, their paths a perfect parallel to the real Young Buck. We stopped as she came into view. For the others, anyways. "Fuck me," Regent said. "Anyone else noticing what I notice?" "Bitch's dogs," Grue said. "Not that similar," Rachel grumbled, but she didn't sound confident. "Pretty fucking similar," Regent said. I leaned forward, hand on Rachel's shoulder, whispered, "What is it?" "Her entire lower half, it looks like my dogs. Bit on the back doesn't look like it, though. More like a hand, but same look." "Thanks," I replied. "We good to go?" Grue asked. "Go," I gave the order. Tecton slammed his piledriver-gauntlets into the ground, and a fissure opened beneath Noelle. The ground shattered around her, denying her the footing to move out of the way as Chronicler and Young Buck worked together to multiply Young Buck's offensive power. Tecton repeated the process, disintegrating the ground beneath her. "I can't do a lot to her," Regent said. "Only some of her is normal, and it doesn't really connect together." "Try, or focus on the clones," Grue ordered. He sent a blast of darkness my way, enveloping me. I could feel the quality of my bug-senses decline, my degree of control degrading. A moment later, he withdrew the darkness. Did he just want the view? The sense of what was where? Raising his hands above his head, Grue fired a thick stream of darkness at Eidolon. The hero moved out of the way before the beam made contact. "Work with me!" Grue growled. "Damn. I can't throw darkness over Noelle without hurting our side as much as we hurt her. I need powers. Grace?" "You want to copy my power?" There was a rumble as Tecton shattered more road beneath Noelle. With the way he'd directed the attack to place it off to one side, I suspected she was trying to climb out of the funnel-shaped depression the explosions had made. Given her speed from before, it was surprising how slowly she was climbing. Then it struck me. An antlion pit. The sides of the pit weren't giving her any traction. Any time she set her weight down, she only pushed the sand to the bottom. "Let me test it, see what I can get," Grue told Grace. "Fine." I scouted the area with my bugs, and accidentally ran into Noelle with a handful of houseflies as she slid backwards into the pit. I wasn't going to agonize over the fact, but I didn't want to give her any more ammunition. My bugs did find a mess of vomit at the very bottom of the shallow crater. "There's vomit, but no clones," I said. "She's trying something." "The two-dimensional Vista. She's ambushing," Grue said. "Ambushing who?" Tecton asked. "I don't know. Can you see them?" I asked. "When they're moving on a surface, are they visible?" "Why are you asking us?" Grace asked. "Tecton," I said, "As much ground as you can affect, now!" He didn't hesitate, punching the ground and driving both piledrivers into it. There were no fissures, this time. The entire area rumbled, and the ground spiderwebbed with cracks in every direction, not leaving two square feet of ground untouched. Bentley nearly lost his footing, and Bastard growled, until Rachel pulled on his chain. The first clone stepped out of a piece of plywood that had been placed across a shattered balcony door. An Über. He pulled the plywood free and disappeared into the apartment, swatting at the bugs that I'd set on him. A Circus emerged beneath the flying heroes, cradling a shattered arm. Bugs began drifting toward her, as if a strong wind were pulling them in. The normal Circus packed a pocket dimension she could put things into. This one was only storing air, forming a strong vacuum around herself. Chronicler's cloud dissipated as it was sucked in, and the heroes with weaker flying abilities were swiftly being dragged her way. Regent hit her with his power, and the effect slowed, but she recovered faster than the fliers did. My swarm could see a large blob of shadow, Noelle, taking advantage of the distraction to climb free of Tecton's antlion pit. "Now!" Grue said. Grace ran forward, having little trouble moving on the shattered road. She leaped and kicked Noelle, no doubt putting her invincibility in one foot. As the kick was delivered, Grace used Noelle as a foothold and thrust herself away. Grue chased her attack with a stream of darkness, enveloping Grace as she stuck her landing, leaped, and did very much the same thing Grace had, slamming one fist into Noelle. Noelle toppled with a rumble my bugs could feel, then slowly slid back into the crater Tecton had made before she could get her feet under her again. The Über stepped out onto the balcony with a block of kitchen knives in hand. Though they weren't weighted for throwing, he had no problem throwing a knife to hit Young Buck as the hero flew by. Young Buck spiralled out of the air, stopping himself only a moment before he hit the ground. When he righted himself, his hands were pressed around the knife that had embedded in his stomach. I sent more bugs after the Über, my bugs tearing at his eyes and hands in earnest. He threw another knife blind, hitting Chronicler in the arm before he collapsed and started thrashing to get the bugs off himself. The Circus, for her part, had used her pocket-dimension vacuum to draw one of the fliers close enough to get her hands on him. The hero, Intrepid or Strapping Lad, was set aflame from head to toe, his costume ignited in entirety. He kicked out, blind in the midst of the flames that were immolating him, and she ducked out of the way. Grace saw the flames of the burning hero as Grue banished his darkness. She made a break for the Circus. Regent knocked the Circus off balance, momentarily interrupting the suction yet again, and Grace punched with enough force to cave in the clone's chest. The Circus dropped to the ground, dead. Grace couldn't see in Grue's darkness, so they were limited as far as their partnership went. He backed away slowly, searching for another opportunity or another power he could borrow. Without Grace's natural agility, the individual pieces of road made for unsteady footing, each tilting and sliding as weight was placed on them. Noelle screamed with frustration and rage. As far as I could tell, she was still at the bottom of the pit.
So Chronicler can replay the fights, as long as they happen inside the field he summons, like the fighters are stuck in a time loop forever but without affecting the real heroes. Like, instead of creating clones, he creates time doubles of them. Interesting power. Time powers are some of the coolest and most WTF powers, surpassed only by Tinker/Thinker abilities and biology manipulation.
Oh, NOOOOOOOOOO, my texan lads...they're injured/killed by Carnie and Unter. Fucking psycho clones. Hope you'll survive, my heroes, even if I highly doubt that Intrepid or Strapping Lad (whoever was burned alive) will be fine even though they'll try to save his life. Gosh, even if they're Noelle's soldiers and work for her, I'm starting to HATE clones more than I hate Noelle. They're the sum of anything is evil and unholy in a human being. However, their powers and codenames are cool enough. Another plus, I find Noelle Wars Arc one of the most exciting Arcs I have to honor to lay my eyes on. I'll never get bored of it no matter how much it will last. Quite the opposite. I'm becoming even more interested in this Arc with every Chapter I finish liveblogging.
I couldn't follow what was happening, not without giving her more bugs to work with, but then again, I wasn't sure that anyone else was having more luck on that front. Not with the pit around her.
"She's pulling something!" Tecton shouted. He raised his voice to be heard by the other capes, "Get back!" Everyone moved away, excepting Young Buck, who was frozen, hands to his wound. Grace retreated, holding onto the incinerated young hero. When Noelle vomited, the slurry came out as one stream, a geyser that extended six or seven hundred feet. Rachel steered Bentley out of the way before it hit, and the others danced off to either side to avoid getting splashed. Grace got clipped, and went sprawling, almost glued to the ground under the weight of the fluid, the cape in her arms falling. A dozen bodies began climbing free of the vomit. Ten or so clones had been deposited on the street, along with a real Leet in civilian clothes. One of the clones was a Circus, folding herself into her pocket dimension. "She's walking on the bodies," Tecton said. "Incoming!" The bodies. She vomited bodies into the pit to keep stuff from sliding underfoot. Young Buck charged through Noelle, but he wasn't flying when he finished his maneuver. He tumbled to the ground, rolling after he landed. I could hear armbands informing others of the fallen. My arm jerked in pain, and I slapped at a hornet. One of Noelle's. Noelle advanced on the burned cape and Grace. Tecton slammed the ground, but the effect was muffled. He'd shattered the ground for blocks around, had maybe killed or eliminated several of the two dimensional clones, but his piledriver gauntlets wouldn't be as effective on this soft surface. Two of the Southern Wards opened fire from above, pelting Noelle with laser fire. I could sense her growing tall, or rearing up on her hind legs, and she vomited a stream into the air. Chronicler and the other cape were splashed, caught by the clotted liquid and a flying body. Chronicler's power remained, the hologram images sustaining the same fire at the same angle, not adjusting as Noelle moved to one side. Eidolon made his move. My bugs could sense the air growing heavy and humid. Vomit dried, and clones staggered and fell. The humidity increased to the point that I could feel the moisture flowing through the air in thick clouds, rising from every surface, heavy off the bodies of the clone, off Noelle and the streams of vomit. My bugs were dying. The flying insects were first to die, their wings crinkling. The ones closest to me were alive, but they were suffering too. Dessication. "You're killing Grace!" Tecton bellowed at the sky. I doubted Eidolon would hear from his vantage point. I had only his word to go by. Grace was in an area my bugs couldn't reach. "Acceptable losses," Grue said. Tecton whirled around to face him. Grue's voice was calm, "His plan isn't working. Tattletale said he wanted to experience enough danger to get a power boost, and I'm not getting the feeling he's had that. He's too experienced to panic, but with everything he's seen, everything he's done over the past decades of work, maybe he's thinking he has to do something here, and he's decided he can't let there be another Endbringer. Can't let there be another monster in this world." "She's on our side! She's one of the good ones!" "If it makes you feel any better," I said, "Eidolon might be assuming she's already dead." I'd positioned some bugs so that they could distinguish Noelle's vague lumbering frame against the background of the dimly lit sky. Her flesh was drying and flaking off in chunks as the moisture was pulled out with force. But the ground still rumbled with the vibrations of her steady advance, and for all the dried flesh that was falling free, she wasn't getting noticeably smaller to my bugs' senses. Eidolon hit her with a gravity slam. More flesh came free. I saw a change, with that, but the edges of the silhouette filled in. "She isn't dying?" I asked, my voice a murmur. "She's regenerating," Grue said. The effects of Eidolon's dessication were starting to get to me. The air was too dry. I coughed once and briefly held my breath to keep from succumbing to another fit. There was a sound like a firecracker taking flight, and Noelle lurched. Even with my bug's less than stellar sight, I could see the aftermath. A hundred slightly different angles. Noelle's true body, the human half perched on top of the monster, arched her back, her chest out, head turning toward the sky. A spray of blood and gore marked a small explosion ripping out the front of her chest. And another, a shot from behind, tearing through her cranium. My bugs ventured into the dessicated area. They would only last for a minute at best, but they'd serve to scout, to give me eyes. They found Ballistic. He hadn't come alone. Scrub was with him, and Trickster swapped rubble out of the area to move his teammates in.
"slaps Grue" No, you fucker, its not an acceptable loss for Eidolon to put Grace's life in danger. You're a good person in general, Grue, but I don't agree with your actual way of thinking about "acceptable sacrifices". Grace is too awesome to become an acceptable loss. Yes, she's a hero, but she started to trust you and the rest of your team and you just can't be so impassive when it comes to her life. Grace is a badass sweetheart whose life is very important to ME and I'll fight with anyone who doesn't give a shit about her, even if they're among my favorite characters.
Well, what we have here....Trickster, arriving in time to give his mutated girlfriend a helping hand. He's gonna capture Undersiders+ heroes for her so she will not get too tired while trying to catch them by herself. What a thoughtful boyfriend! Someone, keep Trickster away from this battlefield. I don't know how, injure him, make him lose his consciousness, teleport him in the middle of the fucking Atlantic Ocean or right inside an active volcano, but you have to send him away as quickly as possible because he's more dangerous than all of the Noelle's clones so far. He'll do anything to see his lover happy+ he wants to redeem himself in her multiple eyes. And worse than everything else, he's not even manipulated by Simurgh right now. He's "manipulated" only by his regrets and the UNDYING AND UNBEATABLE POWER OF LOOOOOOOVE.
He swapped himself in for Grace, appearing in the middle of the vomit-slurry. I opened my mouth to speak, coughed at the dry air instead.
"You decided to help?" Grue called out. "She's our responsibility," Genesis said, "We made a promise to each other. To get home, no matter what it took. But there were other parts to it. Things we added on when the whole situation became clear. Fixing Noelle was one of those additions." Getting home? "We knew it was fucked up," Sundancer said. "But we promised ourselves that if it came down to it, we'd step in before it got bad. And this is bad. So we're acting on it." Her orb burned above her head. Its crackle sounded slightly different in the dry air. Noelle's growl was accented by a noise from one of the larger canine mouths. "Traitors." She's alive. Shot through the heart and brain, and she's talking. "If you were thinking straight, you'd agree with us," Genesis said. "You'd agree this is right. That we can't let people get hurt, just for your revenge." "I didn't ask for this," Noelle said. "I know," Trickster spoke. He looked up toward the sky, tilted his head, and then Eidolon disappeared. I could sense Eidolon's new location, a few blocks away. He tried to fly closer, and Trickster teleported him again, keeping him a distance away. Eidolon had given up his power invulnerability. "I… I'll use my sun, Noelle," Sundancer said. "We'll burn you. It'll be complete, thorough. And this ends. There'll be no more hurting people. And we put all this behind us, remember you the way you were. It's better if it'sus." "I don't want to be a memory," Noelle said.
Trickster will sacrifice even Sundancer and Genesis for Noelle, this bastard in love have no limits when it comes to do anything to praise his Goddess. I'm SURPRISED that Sundancer is ok with killing her former best friend, I really didn't expected to see her taking such a HARD but FAIR and LOGICAL decision. As much as she probably still cares for Noelle and hate to take a life, she's aware that Noelle is already a serial killer who can be stopped only through death. Sundancer is the BEST Traveler and I don't have to explain anymore why I like her so much when its so damn obvious. But...and there's a "but", there are people trapped inside Noelle and if Sundancer will kill her, she'll kill all of those people. No, don't do that, Sundancer, save the people first then you can kill her without any problems. Its not like those Bonesawed people that you burned when you attacked S9 (those people were already beyond any saving like almost anyone who's Bonesawed), there is still hope for the people inside Noelle if they're pulled out before being burned alive. Someone should make Sundancer AWARE of Noelle's victims. I understand that Noelle is out of control and they should kill her but they can't sacrifice people just to kill her. This is against any ethics and I'm definitely against anything that is unethical when it comes to innocent people. Anyway, you won't have time to do anything, my precious Sun, because....of someone who'll play a little trick on you and the rest of your buddies.
"You already are," Ballistic said, from behind her.
She turned, and a low growl sounded from one of her lower mouths, deep enough I could feel the rumble of it. Ballistic shook his head. "The old Noelle's long gone. Do you think she would have survived getting shot like that?" Noelle didn't answer. "You have her memories, nothing more," Trickster said. "Krouse," Noelle said. "You turn on me like this?" "I don't know what else to do." He teleported Eidolon away again. This time Eidolon stayed put. Choosing a new power? "You did this to me. This? The old Noelle disappearing? It's your fault. You know it. You created me." He'd created her? He'd dosed her. "Yeah," Trickster said. He lit a cigarette, put it in the mouth-hole of his mask. "And I listened to you. I bought your promises. Your hollow assurances. I listened and cooperated when you said I should be locked up. I listened when they shut me in that vault, in the dark, alone, with that fucking beeping that wouldn't let me sleep. I waited all this time because you said I could get better." "I know. It eats away at me. But I don't know what else to do." "I spent the past two years listening to you. Doing what you wanted. Just do what I want here, and I'll let it all end. I'll let her burn me, and then you guys can find your own way home." "I know what you want," he said, "But the consequences-" "-Don't matter," she said. "It's not our world. It's… it's as screwed up as the things I make. They're just dark twisted copies of people in this dark, twisted, fucked up world." "No'-" He started. "You owe me this." Trickster sighed, spat out the barely-touched cigarette. Even though I couldn't identify tone, I felt a cold feeling in the pit of my stomach. "Shit," I said. "Grue-" Trickster was already turning. Grue was only beginning to raise a cloud of darkness around us when he disappeared, Trickster standing in his place. "Grue!" I screamed. He was where Trickster had been, half a city block away from Noelle. Noelle lunged. Trickster could have moved out of the way fast enough. Grue wasn't so lucky. The shattered ground under her feet shifted, and she slammed into him, her lower body catching Grue, adhering to him. He was giving her us. Trickster was already gone from the midst of our group. There was gunfire and incoherent shouting as people tried to identify his location. Ballistic was gone, replaced by a piece of rubble. He was taking the most immediate threats out of the picture. Eidolon, Ballistic, Grue… Who came next on that hierarchy? Me. I found myself only five paces away from Noelle, plucked from the midst of my cloud of bugs. There were too few to hide me from Trickster's sight, with the way the dessication had thinned their ranks. She caught me with the back of one claw. There was a sound like a gunshot going off, my ribs feeling like my bones had turned to white-hot brands, and Istuck. She set her claw down on the ground, and my back exploded with pain as I struggled to contort my body, get in a position where I wasn't being folded in half under the weight of an eight ton monstrosity. I was spared being snapped in two not by my own struggles, but by the pull of her flesh as it folded around me. It simultaneously consumed me and pulled on me, as if by a hundred hands. The process was smooth and inevitable, flesh flowing around me like hot candlewax, even as I was drawn upward and inward. I could sense Regent appearing nearby. Noelle turned to face him. He didn't fight, didn't try to run. He said something, but I couldn't make out the words, couldn't hear them with the dark, hot, rancid-smelling flesh that had enveloped me. The last of the flesh closed behind me, my power stopped working, and I was left with only absolute darkness and the pounding flow of Noelle's blood in my ears.
ALL THE FUCKING TRICKS! ALL OF THEM! EXACTLY HOW I PREDICTED! (I'm pretty sure that everyone who know Trickster as much as I know him predicted easy what he was going to do) Well, Skitter, welcome to the Flesh Hell. Your current situation is: FUCKED! Grue is also fucked; I can say the same for Regent and everyone else. Noelle WON her first War all thanks to the most carrying and helpful boyfriend in the whole world. Thank you, Trickster, aren't you such an adorable beau? -sarcasm- Go and fucking rot in Birdcage because heroes will surely not forgive you for this stunt.
I'm sure that Skitter will escape somehow even if she'll get cloned (can't wait for Skitter Clone even if its going to be a non-stop self-hating show) and save everyone that are currently trapped because...nothing can actually stop this blind, injured, coughing girl from competing with Alexandria in terms of which one is the toughest between them. :lol I'm not so worried for her, I'm more worried for everyone else who isn't Skitter and isn't Noelocked and especially for my Texan boys.
ONE FLESH HELL OF AN PREDICTABLE BUT SUSPENSEFUL CHAPTER.
The vial Noelle drank was actually a mixture of two samples, as mentioned in 17.06. One sample was Division, the actual power; the other was Balance, intended to rein in Division and keep it under control. When Noelle drank half the vial, she got almost all of Division and absolutely no Balance, which is why her power is so out of control. Cauldron is aware this can be a problem, which is why on the paperwork they say several times to under no circumstances split a vial. Krouse and Noelle just weren't thinking straight thanks to the Simurgh.
Still, even with Balance control, is still a very dangerous power that should never existed in the first place. Imagine if instead of Noelle there was a psycho. They could have bought the power for themselves and start killing people as a sport (while they have full control, of course), in the same way Manton did after he drank the projection vial. Cauldron creates some really fucked up powers because they probably hope that their experiments/buyers will help getting rid of Endbringers one day. But instead of creating people capable of stopping Endbringers for real (or find ways to send the monsters on barren Earths since they have a fucking portal maker and a clairvoyant at their disposition), they create even more Proto-Enbringers/super psychos who make the life on this Earth harder than it was if Cauldron never decided to get involved. All in all Cauldron SUCKS. As anyone else playing as God.
Hey, I mostly agree with the argumentation here, but cut Cauldron some slack; pretty sure they'd try that already if it would've worked. Remember where the Travelers came from, or more specifically, how?
But maybe, in time, she'll realize how wrong is the path that she's following and will save her still good heart before it will completely tarnish.
They're fucking innocent, I doubt your original self's cats ever bullied him. Don't fucking kill cats, they're God's animals. Skitter, stop him before he'll do whatever he have in his Noelle- controlled simulacrum mind. He's not the real thing, he's only a twisted collection of the worst memories and uncontrollable evil impulses of the actual human being. He's not exactly a real human being, you should not feel guilty for killing him and saving those innocent cats. 
You're a good person in general, Grue, but I don't agree with your actual way of thinking about "acceptable sacrifices". Grace is too awesome to become an acceptable loss. Yes, she's a hero, but she started to trust you and the rest of your team and you just can't be so impassive when it comes to her life. Grace is a badass sweetheart whose life is very important to ME and I'll fight with anyone who doesn't give a shit about her, even if they're among my favorite characters. 