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

blackarrow · Dec 3, 2018

"10moorem II, post: 11718165, member: 24800"]

I really think you're underestimating Dinah and a lot of other thinkers here, just because the power isn't as direct as others doesn't mean it isn't dangerous. Thinkers are actually the parahumans that could cause the most damage to the world.

Your opinion and I respect it.

But my opinion is that nobody can cause as much damage to the world as Tinkers. Bonesaw can do much more damage in two years than Dinah+ Tattletale can do in a lifetime (Bonesaw already did a lot of damage in Brockton Bay even if S9 stayed there only for few days. More damage than Coil- a Thinker- did in few years). Besides, if someone created Endbringers and they're not aliens, then that person must be a Tinker. A tinker whose Endbringers killed millions. Neither Dinah or Tattletale can't do anything that might cause so many deaths, I just can't see.

That would lead to the end of the world almost immediately.

I really want to see how the world will end if people will learn the TRUTH. Its a challenge and I accept it. People deserve to know the truth and I really don't care about consequences as long as Cauldron will be exposed and people will not be lied anymore. Truth hurts but is better than a permanent lie. Besides, we all have our dark side when all we want is to see the whole burn, don't you agree? :lol (anyway, the worst thing that might happen is that people/other heroes will lose the trust in Triumvirate but they'll still have to work together for the good of humanity, right? Its not like everyone will start to hunt Triumvirate down and kill them. Cauldron will escape anyway, they can travel to different Earths so no spectacular changes will happen)
Btw, speaking about the Wormpocalypse, Scion's possible future rampage is way too predictable and I hope that Wildbow will not go this way for an end of the world scenario.

blackarrow · Dec 3, 2018

"Assembler, post: 11717563, member: 13126"]

You do not want to know what would happen if Noelle cloned Amelia. And neither did Coil.

Now I kind of want to know what would happen if Noelle cloned Amelia. My curiosity be damned FOREVER. Anyway, Amelia would have destroyed Noelle before Noelle had the chance to clone her. A single touch....A. SINGLE. TOUCH.....is enough.

*cough*Flechette*cough

Can't believe I forgot that Flechette is asian. She's one of my favorite heroes and I forgot she's asian. Shame on me.

I remember another asian heroine who briefly appeared during Migration Arc. She was carrying a giant lantern and confronted Krouse in the hospital. Yep, now I remember. Thanks.

Cauldron runs stringent psychological exams before selling their vials, as Battery's interlude showed. Manton and Noelle were so dangerous precisely because they were so unstable Cauldron would never have willingly empowered them.

10moorem II · Dec 3, 2018

blackarrow said:
"10moorem II, post: 11718165, member: 24800"]

Your opinion and I respect it. But my opinion is that nobody can cause as much damage to the world as Tinkers. Bonesaw can do much more damage in two years than Dinah+ Tattletale can do in a lifetime (Bonesaw already did a lot of damage in Brockton Bay even if S9 stayed there only for few days. More damage than Coil- a Thinker- did in few years). Besides, if someone created Endbringers and they're not aliens, then that person must be a Tinker. A tinker whose Endbringers killed millions. Neither Dinah or Tattletale can't do anything that might cause so many deaths, I just can't see.

Comparing Coil to Bonesaw isn't exactly fair, considering she's one of the few tinkers capable of causing catastrophic damage to the planet. Most Tinkers are actually limited to technology on their person which they use for individual combat. Though there are exceptions (Bonesaw and Dragon)

I'll give you a few non spoiler reasons why thinkers are more dangerous than you think.

1) Tattletale can actually hack into just about anything by figuring out the passcodes to anything, even the PRT is in danger of this.
2) precognitives like Dinah can ferret out high level information, aid in planning tremendously and if she asks the right questions could even be instrumental in saving entire countries.
3) Numberman could collapse the world's economy.
4) The simurgh isn't feared for her massive strength, toughness or her telekinesis that is strong enough to destroy a city, she's feared for her precognition. Her ability to set up plans to cause the most damage is why people wall of the places she's attacked. Enough said.

Perhaps if the world was more primitive you would be right. However earth bet is currently in the Information Age with all that that entails.

blackarrow · Dec 3, 2018

10moorem II said:
Comparing Coil to Bonesaw isn't exactly fair, considering she's one of the few tinkers capable of causing catastrophic damage to the planet. Most Tinkers are actually limited to technology on their person which they use for individual combat. Though there are exceptions (Bonesaw and Dragon)

I'll give you a few non spoiler reasons why thinkers are more dangerous than you think.

1) Tattletale can actually hack into just about anything by figuring out the passcodes to anything, even the PRT is in danger of this.
2) precognitives like Dinah can ferret out high level information, aid in planning tremendously and if she asks the right questions could even be instrumental in saving entire countries.
3) Numberman could collapse the world's economy.
4) The simurgh isn't feared for her massive strength, toughness or her telekinesis that is strong enough to destroy a city, she's feared for her precognition. Her ability to set up plans to cause the most damage is why people wall of the places she's attacked. Enough said.

Perhaps if the world was more primitive you would be right. However earth bet is currently in the Information Age with all that that entails.

These are possibilities of what Thinkers are capable of, but the possibility alone of what someone is capable of doesn't make them scary enough. When I'll see Dinah taking over the world and proclaming herself its queen or Number Man destroying the economy while staying at his computer and having a nice talk with his boss at the same time, then I'll start be scared by Thinkers. Until then, Tinkers and Masters scare the living daylights out of me (while I love Tinkers at the same time). They can do a lot of shit with their powers, just look at Noelle and Nilbog and Bonesaw and Simurgh and Dragon and Regent and Skitter and so on. I' m not afraid at all by Tattletale, I'm fascinated by her power and I know that knowledge make people powerful, but she doesn't scare actually scare me as long as I don't have important secrets to hide. Unlike Regent, who'd make me run away faster than a rabbit only by staying near me.
Simurgh is an alien or a Tinker creation, all Endbringers are scary shit so she's not an exception. Plus, her precog power can be blocked by other precogs from what I understand about precigs blocking each other powers.
Btw, my father thinks that Masters are the scariest Classification. My friend told me that nothing is more scary than Trump (not the real one, of course

). So, everyone with their opinions, told you. While you're afraid of Thinkers, maybe some people are afraid of Brutes or Blasters, who knows. I wonder if Wildbow himself see a certain Classification as the most dangerous one. Did he said something in his WoG?

10moorem II · Dec 3, 2018

blackarrow said:
These are possibilities of what Thinkers are capable of, but the possibility alone of what someone is capable of doesn't make them scary enough. When I'll see Dinah taking over the world and proclaming herself its queen or Number Man destroying the economy while staying at his computer and having a nice talk with his boss at the same time, then I'll start be scared by Thinkers. Until then, Tinkers and Masters scare the living daylights out of me (while I love Tinkers at the same time). They can do a lot of shit with their powers, just look at Noelle and Nilbog and Bonesaw and Simurgh and Dragon and Regent and Skitter and so on. I' m not afraid at all by Tattletale, I'm fascinated by her power and I know that knowledge make people powerful, but she doesn't scare actually scare me as long as I don't have important secrets to hide. Unlike Regent, who'd make me run away faster than a rabbit only by staying near me.
Simurgh is an alien or a Tinker creation, all Endbringers are scary shit so she's not an exception. Plus, her precog power can be blocked by other precogs from what I understand about precigs blocking each other powers.
Btw, my father thinks that Masters are the scariest Classification. My friend told me that nothing is more scary than Trump (not the real one, of course ). So, everyone with their opinions, told you. While you're afraid of Thinkers, maybe some people are afraid of Brutes or Blasters, who knows. I wonder if Wildbow himself see a certain Classification as the most dangerous one. Did he said something in his WoG?

Oh you meant the people, okay.

Also the simurgh is likely the most powerful precog and considering so many of her plans have happened regardless of people trying to stop them (likely including other precognition) it is unlikely she is at all hindered by other precognitives.

blackarrow · Dec 3, 2018

10moorem II said:
Oh you meant the people, okay.

Also the simurgh is likely the most powerful precog and considering so many of her plans have happened regardless of people trying to stop them (likely including other precognition) it is unlikely she is at all hindered by other precognitives.

Btw, I think you already know this, but I have to say again. NOT OTHER CHARACTER SCARED ME AS MUCH AS MANNEQUIN DID. NOT EVEN ENDBRINGERS. Mannequin was the scariest character in the entire story. I find Night and Noelle scary too, but nowhere near Mannequin levels of creepiness. I still have nightmares with him.

But maybe is just me and other people weren't scared by him.
But what if more precogs than just one are used against Simurgh? Like few dozens of precogs? If they unite their powers against her, at the same time, will she have a chance to break their hive minds shield? She must have a weakness, nobody is without weakness (maybe someone is immune to her precog powers and she can't read their plans before they'll take action against her or Scion will come and destroy her while she makes efforts to read the bait, not paying attention to anything else around her. Or Scion should develop a level of immunity around her precog powers. Someone/something must be her "kryptonite". If its true, don't tell me what it is, please, thank you)

Xexilf · Dec 3, 2018

blackarrow said:
Did he said something in his WoG?

Not sure if he ever said anything about his own feelings, but in his attempts to flesh things out he wrote a document about how the PRT handles things in the field, and apparently their standard orders, rating and other things being equal, is taking out thinkers and masters as highest priority, while changers and trumps are lowest.

Which kind of makes sense, since most lower trumps deal merely with the powers of others, so for a PRT team thats a large part mundane soldiers, theyre less danger.

Personally, i am less afraid of masters (that control people) that most, but i feel far less fear about the idea of having my mind altered then most people ive asked.

For tinkers, i think, we should consider that unlike for most other parahumans, whose abilities are simply as they are, the danger level a tinker can pose varies widely with how much time, resources etc. theyve had, what they carry on their person (which in most cases you can disarm them of, which you cant do with other parahumans), and so on, so it really depends.

blackarrow · Dec 4, 2018

Xexilf said:
Not sure if he ever said anything about his own feelings, but in his attempts to flesh things out he wrote a document about how the PRT handles things in the field, and apparently their standard orders, rating and other things being equal, is taking out thinkers and masters as highest priority, while changers and trumps are lowest.

Which kind of makes sense, since most lower trumps deal merely with the powers of others, so for a PRT team thats a large part mundane soldiers, theyre less danger.

Personally, i am less afraid of masters (that control people) that most, but i feel far less fear about the idea of having my mind altered then most people ive asked.

For tinkers, i think, we should consider that unlike for most other parahumans, whose abilities are simply as they are, the danger level a tinker can pose varies widely with how much time, resources etc. theyve had, what they carry on their person (which in most cases you can disarm them of, which you cant do with other parahumans), and so on, so it really depends.

I don't know, man, but I think that my father is right about Masters. They're incredible scary and powerful. I'd rather accept to die by having Alexandria slightly slapping me than Regent controlling my body with NO ESCAPE, his fucker of a father forcing me to kill my loved ones or Canary mentally controlling me through her songs (yes, I feel a lot of pity for her, but I admit that her power is creepy as hell). Masters can make you do anything they want, they can turn you into a serial criminal faster than you can say 'WTF is happening to me' and I don't think there's a protection against them. Maybe if someone is immune against certain Masters, but if Masters control other people around the immune one and force them to kill him/her, he/she needs more power than just immunity to survive. Masters can manipulate people like they're clay and imagine if people are aware of this control but they can't fight back or avoid to be drastically changed mentally or emotionally, no matter how much they try. Mind/body control is one of the scariest thing ever, at least in my opinion.

(still, I don't have any problem with Regent controlling Shatterbird, because she's a criminal already fucked up in her head more than Regent will ever hope to fuck her up)

blackarrow · Dec 5, 2018

Hello, my friends....and Noelle's clones of my friends- let's not forget to mention you too.

Last time, Noelle managed to capture 3 Undersiders with the help of her always loyal boyfriend, who also stopped Sundancer from using her sun to kill her. As I said before, I'm not too worried about their fate for two reasons: Noelle can't kill them yet because she needs them alive so she can clone them further and Skitter will manage somehow to free herself from Noelle's stomach and maybe free all the others because there's nothing that our dear Brockton Bay Queen Bee can't do with the seer force of DETERMINATION and WILL TO CONTINUE FIGHTING until her very last breath.

Besides, I think that Trickster ended up doing actually something good, even if it wasn't his intention. By stopping Sundancer from killing Noelle, plenty of people inside her stomach were saved- Sundancer's sun would have fried them alive along with Noelle herself. They must escape BEFORE Noelle will die otherwise their sacrifice will be nothing but a disgusting murder (a disgusting murder presented as necessity but still disgusting as hell). Trickster played perfectly his role as someone who fucked up everything because he was a young man in love with a very unstable mind but he also involuntary created something called HOPE for all of Noelle's victims. I'm actually happy with this development even if at first I kind of lost my shit. Still, Trickster deserves to rot in Birdcage while mourning Noelle every hour of day and night because what he did wasn't nice at all.

Ok, here we go...Another Interlude? Oh, no, I wanted to know how Skitter will manage to escape, this isn't fair. I didn't asked for another Interlude "siiiiiiiiiiiighs" Fine, fine, Wildbow, if you want this then I will play along. You sadistic God. Some wild guess: Noelle's backstory (we know Travelers backstory but we don't know HER backstory; her family, why she become bulimic/anorexic, how she meet her friends and so on) or what Defiant and Dragon are doing during the time when Brockton Bay is getting filled with crazy and bloodthirsty clones. Did they found the rest of S9? Did they managed to kill at least one? Any of these predictions is welcomed in this Interlude but I'll be fine fine with anything else as long as it will catch and keep my attention.

And I want MORE Jessica, no matter the course of the action. A single Interlude with Jessica is not enough. NEVER ENOUGH JESSICA <3

Interlude 18 (Donation Bonus #4)

Dr. Jeremy Foster was woken by the sound of a distant gunshot. He sat straight up in bed.

Another gunshot.
He reached over to his bedside table and found the remote. A press of a button illuminated his bedroom. He opened the drawer to grab the handheld radio and pressed the button. "Report."
Silence.
"Captain Adams, report."
It wasn't Captain Adams who responded. It was a woman. "Stay put, doctor. We'll be with you in a moment."
He was out of bed in a flash. Remote in hand, he turned off the light and opened his bedroom door.
There were two figures in the hallway, cloaked in shadow, one large and broad, the other narrow. The smaller one saw him and broke into a run.
He slammed the bedroom door and locked it in the same motion. There was a crash as the figure threw himself against the door. If the door were the usual wood chip and cheap cardboard, it might have broken, but Jeremy valued quality, even with the things one normally didn't see. His doors were solid wood. The doorknob rattled as the doctor crossed his bedroom. He reached for the underside of one shelf on his bookcase, pulled a pin, and then pulled the bookcase away from the wall.
The remote fit into a depression on the stainless steel door that sat behind the bookcase. He made sure it was positioned correctly, then hit a button. There was a click, and the door popped open a crack. He had to use both hands to slide the door open.
The doorknob rattled again, then there was a heavier collision. The bigger man had gotten close.
Safely inside, Jeremy pulled the bookcase tight against the wall, felt it click into place, and then shut the metal door of his panic room.
Monitors flickered on, showing his estate in shades of black and green. At any given time, he had seven armed men patrolling the grounds and an eighth keeping an eye on the security cameras. He could count seven fallen, including the man in the security office. They lay prone on the ground, or slumped over the nearest surface. One struggled weakly.
He picked up the phone. There wasn't a dial tone.
The cell phone, then. He opened a drawer and picked up the cell. No service. There was only static. They had something to block it.
There was no such thing as 'security'. However much one invested in safes, in armed guards, in panic rooms and high stone walls, it only served to escalate a perpetual contest with the people who would try to circumvent those measures. Raising the stakes.
Helpless, Jeremy watched the invaders making their way through his house. He was already mentally calculating the potential losses. Pieces of artwork worth tens of thousands, valuables not secured in the safes…
The Magnes painting at the landing between the second and third floor, overlooking the ground floor foyer. Jeremy winced at the realization. He'd only picked it up two months ago. The two million dollar price tag might have given him pause, but it was insured. He'd bought all the furniture for foyer to complement the work, and now he'd have to find another painting to take its place and buy new furniture to match.
Except they were walking by the painting as though it weren't even there.
A part of him felt offended that they hadn't even stopped to admire it. Philistines.
No. There was a very good chance they were coming for him.
One by one, they entered his bedroom. It was a blind spot of sorts. He'd wanted his privacy, so the only ways to turn on the security camera in the corner of the room would be to unlock or open the balcony doors, break the glass or input a particular code.
He stepped over to the computer, typed in the code. Simonfoster19931996.
The screen flickered to life, but it wasn't his bedroom in the picture. A field with four walls approximately where his bedroom walls had been, the six invaders waiting very patiently in the middle as walls stripped away to become tendrils, tendrils became vines and vines twisted together into treelike forms.
The window went quickly. The 'field' of knee-length grass rippled as the wind caught it.
The bookcase was slower to degrade. Books were rendered into leaves, shelves into vines. He watched the image on the camera with an increasing sense of dread, glanced at the door.
The screen went black.
"No, no, no, no," he said.
A crack appeared in the door. Floor to ceiling.
He grabbed the handgun from the counter, double checked it was loaded.
Another crack crossed the door, horizontal, nearly six feet above the ground.

I had to read these paragraphs two times before understanding something. And I think I understand what's going on...and I like what I understand. So, this doctor Jeremy Foster's house is invaded by 6 people, parahumans judging by the powers that at least one of them seem to have. Their power affects the surroundings, reminding me of Labyrinth's power. 6 people...Faultline's Crew have 6 members: Faultline, Labyrinth, Spitfire, Newter, Gregor the Snail and their newest member, Shamrock. Labyrinth was in a Parahumans Asylum. This Jeremy dude is a doctor, possible a psychiatrist. So...this Interlude is Faultline's Crew second Interlude? This is BETTER than I expected.

My FAVORITE MERCS are back in action. I missed these guys so much, I'm terrible happy seeing them after such a long absence. But what is the reason behind this "visit"? Did Jeremy wasn't a nice therapist and Elle suffered because of his lack of professionalism/ill will? This is a revenge trespassing or someone paid them to scare/injure the doctor?

He disabled the safety.

With the third crack, the door fell into the panic room, slamming against the ground. He fired into the opening of the doorway, and the acoustics of the metal-walled room made the shot far, far louder than it had any right to be.
There was nobody standing in the doorway.
He looked around. The layout of the room wasn't set up for a firefight. Especially not a firefight that involved parahumans. He crouched, kept the gun pointed toward the door.
They didn't make a move. The floor of the panic room was being finely etched with markings that overlapped and wove into one another. Where lines drew to a taper, points were curling up, strands slowly rising, dividing into finer growths and flaring at the top with the vague cat-tail like ends of wild grass. He could see the clean-cut edges of the door curling, twisting into tendrils.
Some had teardrop shaped bulges on the end.
"Elle," he called out. "Labyrinth?"
All together, the bulges on the tendrils unfurled into tiny, metallic flowers, framing the doorway.
"She's having one of her bad days, doctor," the woman who had been on the other side of the radio called back. "She's not feeling very talkative as a result. If you have something to say, say it to me. I go by Faultline."
Faultline pressed her back to the 'wall'. Not that it was really a 'wall'. Labyrinth's power was slowly working on the metal, gradually twisting it into gnarled textures and branches. Shamrock was beside her, clad in a costume of skintight black leather with a green clover on the chest, her red hair spilling over her shoulders, a combat shotgun directed at the ground. Gregor and Spitfire were on the other side of the door, holding similar positions.
Newter sat with Labyrinth on the bed, his tail circled around the girl's waist, keeping her from wandering. The bed was barely recognizable, nearly consumed by waist-high strands of hardwood-textured grass.
A cool summer breeze blew in through the opening that had once been the window, scattering dandelion seeds and leaves throughout the room's interior.

I feel so good when some of my favorite villains are back. Faultine, I miss this strong, badass woman, who, despite the tough exterior, is like a mother for her crew. She should be the one nicknamed "Mother" not the person who actually calls herself like this, but she's more like a fairy tale step mother pretending to be a nice person than anything else.

Even if she's a rival to my favorite character, I still like Fautline a lot. After all, they have something more like a bussiness rivalry than an actual violent one. Its not like Faultline tried to kill Tattletale or viceversa. And maybe...maybe one day Undersiders and Faultline's Crew will make a kick-ass big team (to defeat a common enemy), despite everything going between Faultline and Tattletale. I can still hope, right?

I have a theory about Labyrinth and what she might be able to do if she'll have a second trigger. So, some time ago I wrote about how I think that Labyrinth's power works. She have access to parallel Earths and "steal" stuff from there, bringing it to her Earth. All of the statues and nature that she brings everytime she's using her power are very possible coming from other worlds, and my question is...what if her second trigger will give her the possibility to take stuff from her Earth and deposit them on other Earths? Like using her power in two ways. Maybe she's the key of defeating Endbringers. Like, take Endbringers from Earth Bet and deposit them on barren worlds so they'll never hurt other humans again. With Leviathan and Behemoth will be easy if Labyrinth will be strong enough to send them on parallel Earths. Simurgh will not be able to return back if she'll be send in a world with zero technology (no technology, not possibility for another Star Gate). This won't be a problem. The real problem is: her precog powers. Somehow her precog powers must be blocked/tricked, otherwise the plan will be thwarted by her ability to predict it. She'll have Labyrinth killed in no time if she'll know about this possibility of humanity winning against her and the rest of her Endbringers. If my theory will be confirmed and Labyrinth will suffer a second trigger, then this girl have the HUGE potential to become the Champion of Earth Bet, by doing such a MAJOR service to people across the globe.

"I don't know what she told you," the Doctor called out. "I always treated her professionally, to the best of my ability."

"We're not here for revenge on her behalf, Doctor," Faultline responded. "We're looking for information."
"I'm not working with the Asylum anymore. It's been over a year."
"I know," she replied.
"Protocols have changed. I can't get you past security or anything like that."
"The Asylum doesn't really interest me," Faultline said. "Not why we're here."
"Then why?"
"Because we've been trying to track down people who can give us answers, and you stood out. Spending a little too much money."
"I'm a good doctor, that's all!"
"Doesn't account for it. Comparing you to your coworkers at the asylum back then, you were spending too much money. Just enough that I think someone was bankrolling you."
"Your sources are wrong!"
"Don't think so. I think someone was paying you to keep tabs on certain individuals within the asylum. Was it Cauldron?"
She shut her eyes, listened. She couldn't make out any telltale gasps or movement.
"I don't know what you're talking about!"
"The other possibility is that you were working for a foreign government. A spy. Or, to be more specific, you were working as a spy for several foreign agencies."
"Look at my neighbors! We do the same kind of work, we live at the same level!"
"Your neighbors are in debt, or they're riding on the capital from smart investments. You aren't. Just the opposite. Your investments are nil, yet you somehow have enough money sitting in the bank that you can coast into retirement."
"No," the Doctor said.
"The difference between you and the other people on my list is that you were stupid about it. Showing too much of the money. If it wasn't me who noticed, it'd be one of the people paying you."
"Nobody paid me! Your sources are wrong! I am in debt! Hundreds of thousands!"
"Let's cut past the lies and bullshit, Doctor Foster. I'm offering you a deal. You and I both know that you won't be able to maintain this lifestyle if your employers realize you were discovered. Depending on who they are, they might even take offense. Either they terminate their relationship with you or they terminate you."
More of the house around them was blowing away, dandelion seeds in the wind. The wall surrounding the window was gone, and the roof was well on its way to the same state.
"I don't- you're wrong. These people you're talking about, they don't exist. I don't know them."
"Okay," Faultline said. "Now, I'd have to double-check whether the person paying for the mission is willing to torture or kill you for the information we want…"
She hesitated, glanced at Gregor. He shook his head.
"…And he isn't. Isn't that good news?"
"God. I'm just- I'm a doctor! I work with politicians, sometimes with big name parahumans. The- the president's friends come to me! But I'm only a doctor! I'm not a spy!"
"Then you have nothing to worry about," Faultline said, "if we leave and we spread the word that we thought you were involved. If it's an unfounded rumor, then nothing happens. Maybe your reputation takes a little hit, but a powerful man like you will bounce back, won't he?"
"Please-"
"But if you're lying, if you are involved, the people who paid you to keep your eyes open and your mouth shut will be upset. I don't think you'll be able to escape them by hopping on a plane to some remote country."
She let the words hang in the air.
"I… if I told you, I would be in just as bad a situation. Hypothetically."
"Hypothetically," she said, "I suppose you'd have to decide whether it was better to trust us and our professional, circumspect demeanor and the possibility that we'd let the details slip or whether you wanted to suffer theinevitable consequences if we started talking."
There was another pause. She waited patiently.
"I was supposed to find out just how much the United States knew about what was going on. Like you said, keeping my eyes open. Twice, putting a special thumbdrive into one of the main computers. That was for the United Kingdom. I sent regular reports to another group. I think they were the C.U. I didn't do anything specific for them. Just describing new inmates, recent hirings and firings, changes in policy."
The C.U.l China. It was good to be right. "Did you download anything onto the drives, or-"
"I don't know. I don't think so. I was supposed to plug them in, then wait. After, I took them out and destroyed them."
"Very possible it was putting a backdoor into place, giving your employer remote access," Faultline said.
"Why does this matter?"
"That's our business, not yours. Did they ever show particular attention to an individual?"
"Some attention for the more powerful ones. Nothing ever came of it. I gave them more details, they paid me, that was it. The patients stayed in the asylum's custody."
"If you had to, how would you get in touch with them?"
"Email. Sometimes phone. They changed handlers. Been a while."
"When did they last contact you?"
"Two years ago? About?"
"Why?"
"Wisconsin. The Simurgh attack. There was an open call for civilian volunteers. My contact from the U.K. left me a message.
Asked me to volunteer my medical expertise, see who was filtering out."
"Did he have a handle?"
"Christof."
Her heart leaped. "Spell it."
"C-H-R-I-S-T-O-F."
A rare smile spread across Faultline's face. Finally, after weeks of looking, they'd found a connection between two clues. Christof was a familiar name. She glanced at the others, and Newter gave her a little 'fist pump' gesture, smiling.
"How much did he pay you?"
"He didn't. I refused the deal."
Every clue points to a greater picture, how they operate and where the priorities are. In a situation where every piece of information was valuable and every avenue of collecting that information crucial, there was a lot to be said for identifying where the major players weren't looking for clues. It suggested they already knew, they already had agents in play.
If they'd let him go so easily, there might have been others. But it suggested they were interested in what had happened in Madison.
Which meant her crew had reason to be interested.
"Keep talking," she said. "Let's talk about some of the other jobs."
"Hate the heat," Faultline said. "I never thought I'd miss Brockton Bay, but the weather was usually nice. Damn sun's not even up and I'm sweltering."
"It might be easier to bear if you wore something more… summery," Newter commented, eyeing her short-sleeved dress shirt and the black slacks that were tucked into cowboy boots. She glared at him, and he smirked in response.
She'd have to put him in check or he'd be intolerable for the rest of the day. "Maybe I need to get the bullwhip? Or did you forget the drills?"
Newter groaned aloud. "You're on that again."
"On the wall. Go."
Newter leaped across the hotel room and stuck to the wall, one hand planted above his head so he could stay more or less upright, his tail curling around his lower foot. "Pain in the ass. You know I'll have to scrub the hotel walls after to get rid of the footprints before we go."
"Deal," Faultline said. "The practice could make the difference between you dodging a bullet and you moving too slow to avoid it."
Spitfire and Elle stepped out of the bathroom, Spitfire with a towel in hands, drying Elle's hair.
"How are we doing?" Faulltine asked.
Elle didn't respond. She chewed slightly on her lip, and her eyes looked right through Faulltine as she glanced around the room.
"I think we're about a three," Spitfire said. "She brushed her teeth after I put the brush in her hands. Why don't you sit down on the couch, Elle, and I'll brush your hair?"
"I'll do that," Faultline said. "Get me a brush and then go finish getting ready."

Mother Faultline is the best mother. No doubt. Its so cute how she treats her "child" Newter, its more like a little game she plays with him than an actual punishment. She doesn't have the heart for a real punishment, dear Faultline. Plus, she's such a sweetheart towards our poor, poor Elle.

Speaking about doctor Jeremy, he seems to be a spy, spying for UK and C.U.l China (on Earth Bet China is no longer the People's Republic of China but C.U.l -I have no idea what this shit means. Something like...Imperial China? Please, tell me, if you know, that won't be a spoiler, but a small and harmless information. Thank you. It looks like, despite being some of the best allies in the world, UK have no problem spying on US. Or maybe, on Earth Bet US and UK are not so close like on own Earth because I never heard about an espionage scandal between our US and UK). His contacts were interested about Simurgh's attack and this Cristof may or may not have connections with Cauldron itself (its a safe bet that he's Cauldron, given the fact that Faultline knows about him, they're looking for Cauldron's informations and Faultline was satisfied when she heard his name

). Faultline's Crew doesn't seem to like Cauldron too much (they have 3 big reasons for not liking it: Gregor, Newter and Shamrock) and I have a feeling that by the end of Worm, all other characters (Undersiders, non- Triumvirate heroes) will have as much sympathy for Cauldron as they currently have for S9.

I also have a feeling that, if they'll get too close to Cauldron, Faultline's Crew will have some serious troubles because Cauldron are not someone people should mess with. In order to defeat Cauldron, they need to ally themselves with other powerful parahumans but if they're alone, they don't have many chances even if Labyrinth and Shamrock are OP as fuck. Wildbow, why are you making me so worried for my babies mercs?

"Yes, ma'am," Spitfire said. She glanced at Newter, and Faultline suspected she saw an eye roll there. Spitfire led Elle by hand in the direction of the couch, let go as Elle got close enough to Faultline. Faultline led the girl to the couch, then sat on the back of the couch with her feet planted to either side of the girl.

She caught the brush that Spitfire threw across the room and set to brushing Elle's white-blond hair. "This is badly tangled. Were you sleeping in a tree again?"
Elle nodded slightly.
"I'll try to be gentle. Let me know if I'm tugging too hard."
Elle nodded again.
Faultline caught a whiff of hot sand, salt, and humid air.
"Don't make water, okay, Elle?" Faultline said. "It's not that we're paying the deposit for the room, but it's a matter of principle. We're professionals. We don't leave messes."
The ocean smell faded away by the time Faultline had stroked the brush five more times.
"Thank you," Faultline said.
The 'Labyrinth' power would typically clean itself up. When they'd left Dr. Foster's estate, much of it had been turned to leaves, grass and flowers with electric blue petals. As the effect faded, the building would be restored.
What Elle's power didn't clean up was the aftermath the changes themselves wrought. If a stone pillar toppled onto a car, the pillar might disappear, but the car would remain crushed. A fire quenched by water would remain out, even as the moisture faded.
Gregor and Shamrock entered from the hotel room's front door, holding hands. Both were in their combat gear, with some adjustments made to adjust for the heat. Shamrock wore black yoga pants and a green sleeveless t-shirt with her clover-leaf symbol on the front in black, her mask dangling from her right front pocket, her shotgun dangling from her free hand. Gregor wore a fishnet shirt over bare skin, thick canvas pants and a snailshell-spiral mask strapped to his face, with holes worked into the gaps for his eyes. The dark vague shadows of his organs were visible through the flesh of his broad stomach.
"I'm sorry the rest of us aren't ready to go. Slow start," Faultline confessed.
"It happens," Gregor said, in his accented voice. "And I know it is almost always Spitfire, Newter or Elle at fault. Not to say I would fault Elle. But you should not apologize for any of them. Only yourself."
"Frankly, bro," Newter said, "I'm surprised you're even capable of moving. It's not like you slept a wink, know what I mean?"

Gosh, Faultline and Elle are ADORABLE together. I don't know how old is Faultline but I suppose she older than Elle, but not old enough to be her mother, more like a big sister. Faultline loves Elle so much, she's obviously more than a boss for the girl. Faultline is the BEST BOSS ever. I'll be incredible sad if something bad will happen to these guys at the end of this Interlude and I'll instantly HATE anyone who'll attack them. Like finding Cristof dead and being attacked by Cauldron's thugs or finding Cristof, but he's a superpowered Cauldron's freak and will fight against all of them. Anything is possible when Cauldron is involved. ANYTHING.
Wait a moment? Gregor and Shamrock are TOGETHER? Like boyfriend and girlfriend? They even had sex? Wow, wow, I'm so freaking HAPPY for them.

Finally, Gregor have a girlfriend. A pretty and VERY LUCKY girlfriend.

One hell of a lucky girl, indeed. Not only because of her power, naturally, but also because Gregor would make one of the best boyfriends a girl can dream of. He's so damn loyal, so caring, so protective towards his teammates, patient, he also seems to be a gentleman towards the girls in his team. Plus, I'm glad that she doesn't give 2 withered four-leaf clovers about his physical appearance as she likes him for the man behind that body. See, Gregor, I told you that, one day, you'll get your girl. Told you, man.

Gregor lobbed a glob of goo at Newter, who leaped to the ceiling, cackling. The slime bubbled away to nothingness.

"I took the role of leader," Faultline said. "It's my job to kick people's asses and get them moving when we have a job coming up."
"And I'm the client," Gregor said. He'd taken a seat in an armchair, and Shamrock sat in his lap. Almost as an afterthought, he folded his arms around the young woman. "I could ask that you and the team are more casual with this job. Our destination is going to be there whether we leave before dawn or at sunset."
Faultline shook her head. "I'd rather treat this as I would any job. If nothing else, keeping everyone on the straight and narrow means they won't get sloppy on our next serious job."
"Very well," Gregor said. "Then I'd like to leave within thirty minutes."
"We'll make it ten," Faultline said. "Pack everything up. Spitfire can help Elle get her stuff on. Elle makes us an exit from the balcony so we aren't walking through the hotel in costume."
She stood from the back of the couch, and nearly collided with a statue that had emerged from the wall above and around her. A woman, back arched, hands outstretched to either side of Faultline.
She led Elle to the bedroom, where Spitfire was pulling the last of her fire-retardant gear on. Her own gear was in a separate suitcase.
Faultline was a believer in doing things right. Image came secondary toeffect, and doing the job right was better for image than having the best costume. Her own costume blended several functions. A bulletproof vest, lightweight, with a stylized exterior, formed the most expensive single component of the outfit. She tied her hair back into a crude bun, then gingerly drew the 'ponytail' from the side of the suitcase. Unfolding the surrounding cover, Faultline slowly and carefully used her fingers to comb the fake hair onto a semblance of order. The bristly hair extension masked a thin, flexible rod in the core, with painted spikes protruding at various angles. It was all too common for an enemy to reach for the ponytail in an attempt to get her. Their hands would be impaled on the waiting spikes, if they weren't invulnerable, and the hair extension would come free, giving her a chance to escape.
Belts with various tools and weapons were strapped to her upper arms, forearms and thighs, held in place with suspenders. Knives, lockpicks, various pre-prepared hypodermic needles, climbing tools, sticks of chalk, a mirror, a magnifying glass, iron wire and more were on hand if she needed them. She ran her finger over the belts to ensure that each pocket was full.
She checked her semiautomatic, then slid it into the holster at her left hip. A flare gun went into the holster at the right. Flowing sleeves that would mask the belts and their contents were buckled on next, followed by a dress with a side pocket that would let her access the gun in a pinch. The buckles meant that anyone pulling on the fabric would pull it free rather than get hold of her.
It was amusing, just how much of a contrast Labyrinth's costume was. The robe was easy enough to wear that she could put it on over her clothes. It was green with a 'maze' drawn on the fabric. There were no safety measures, only minimal supplies and gear.
Faultline donned her mask, more a welder's mask with a stylized crack to see through than anything else, then led the other two girls back into the main area of their hotel room.
Newter had changed, but he didn't need much. He had handwraps and footwraps that left his fingers and toes free, basketball shorts and a messenger bag slung over one shoulder. He was the first one to exit the apartment, disappearing out the window, then poked his head back in long enough to give a thumbs up.
Elle opened the window into a proper exit, complete with a staircase leading to the road behind the hotel. Faultline paused to look at the looming stone wall, only a few blocks away. Three hundred feet tall, it was all smooth stone. Parahuman made, no doubt.
The barrier encircled the area the Simurgh had attacked, containing everything within.
Every house and building within three hundred feet of the wall itself had been bulldozed. She couldn't help but feel conspicuous as they crossed the open area. It was dark, there weren't any spotlights, but she couldn't help but be paranoid.
"Cell phones are dead," Shamrock commented.

They're in the city attacked by Simurgh two years ago. Simurgh also teleported Travelers here, after she "stole" them from their hometown. I wonder if there are still Case 53 people roaming around, or all of them were killed/captured by government officials in the meantime. I kind of want for them to meet some Case 53, maybe Gregor or Newter will recognize them, since they're all locked in the same place (hate to call these people Case 53 btw. I feel like I dehumanize them

). But, on the other side, its a possibility that those Case 53 to be insane and feral by now (Simurgh's song's effects+ 2 years of isolation= not very good for human brains). I wonder if Matryoshka (the girl who can digest people and steal their memories while holding them inside her body) is still alive. Her power is kind of fascinating and downright creepy at the same time.

Faultline nodded grimly. Of course there wouldn't be any transmissions into or out of this area. No messages of any sort would be permitted. Not even water entered or left the quarantine area, let alone communications or goods. Anyone still inside was left to fend for themselves with whatever resources they could gather.

She'd checked and double checked the measures authorities were taking, ensuring that the area wasn't being watched for intruders. There weren't any people on the wall, and the only surveillance was busy keeping an eye out for anyone who might be trying to make it over the top of the wall.
Going through the wall? Anyone digging through would be caught by the daily drone sweeps, and anyone trying something faster would make too much noise.
Besides, they certainly didn't expect anyone to be trying to get in.
Faultline touched the wall. She felt her power magnifying around her fingertip on contact. She just had to will it, and her power would dance around the contact point, leaving a hole a third of an inch across. If she really pushed for it, it would extend several feet inside the object.
Her power worked better with multiple points of contact. She touched with her other fingertip, and felt the power soar between the two, running through the surface like a current.
She let it surge outward, and a fissure appeared.
She tapped one toe against the wall, and power surged from either fingertip to the point of her toe, drawing a triangle. Moving closer to the wall until she was almost hugging it, she moved her other toe against the surface. Four points of contact, six lines.
Then she pushed, literally and in the sense of using her power. The power surged into the object, the lines widening and she swiftly backed away as the resulting debris settled.
Once the dust had more or less cleared, she could make out a tunnel, roughly door shaped. Her power had destroyed enough of the material that there was barely any debris on the ground.
"Labyrinth," Faultline said, "Shore it up? Make a nice hallway? Taller and wider than this, please."
Labyrinth nodded. It took only twenty or thirty seconds before there was a noticeable effect. By the time they were halfway down the tunnel, there were alcoves with statues in them and torches burning in sconces.
Walking through the tunnel was claustrophobic. Faultline could handle that, but she could see Shamrock clinging to Gregor. It made his progress through the narrow tunnel that much slower.
How fragile civilization is, Faultline mused, as she emerged on the other side. Newter clambered up the side of the nearest building for a vantage point.
Some of it was the Simurgh's doing, no doubt, but the thing that made her catch her breath was the degree to which things had degraded. Windows were broken, plants crawled over the surroundings, a building had collapsed a little further down the street.
Stone was cracked, windows shattered, metal rusted. The buildings, the cars that still sat in the middle of the street, they looked as though they had been left abandoned for a decade, though it was closer to a year and a half in reality.
It didn't take much. Animals found their way inside, fires started and spread, and weather damaged the structures. Once the spaces were partially breached, the wind, sun, rain and temperature were free to wear on the interiors, and everything accelerated.
That damage, in turn, paved the way for other things to take root. Mold could get into materials and surfaces. Plants could take root, winding roots into cracks, widening them. Ice did much the same in the winter months.
Still, it was so much, so fast.
She couldn't help but think about what Coil had said about the world ending in two years. However it happened, if it happened, how long would it be before nature had destroyed every trace of humanity, after mankind was gone?
"Pretty," Labyrinth said, as she emerged from the tunnel. Her head craned as she looked around.
Faultline and Spitfire gave the girl a look of surprise. It wasn't like her to talk on a bad day.
"You think so?" Faultline asked.
Labyrinth didn't venture a response.
"Guess you like different architecture, huh?"
Still no response. Faultline rubbed the girl's hooded head, as she might with a dog.
Gregor and Shamrock were the last ones to exit the tunnel.
"All good?" Faultline asked.
"A little much," Shamrock said. "Knowing how tall the wall is, how much pressure's bearing down over our heads… I'm a little claustrophobic at the best of times, and that's worse than the best times."
"We have some time before we need to pass through again," Faultline said, "Maybe Labyrinth can make it wider, shore it up more so you're more comfortable, for the future."
Shamrock nodded. "I hope so. Thank you."
"We're looking for any signs of life," Faultline said. "Avoid confrontation if you don't have backup. We patrol this area in a pinwheel formation. We have four people patrolling, each in a different cardinal direction. Head three blocks out, turn clockwise, travel two more blocks, then zig-zag your way back to the center. One person always waits with Labyrinth in the middle, so we have a fortified spot to fall back to. We take turns staying with her, so nobody walks too long."
There were nods from each of her subordinates.
"Flare if there's any trouble or any find. Everyone has their guns?"
Everyone did.
"Gregor and Shamrock babysit during the first patrol, don't need anyone to backtrack, obviously. Move out."
It took only a second for Newter, Spitfire and Faultline to choose their individual directions. Gregor and Shamrock stayed behind.
Better to give Shamrock a chance to calm down, Faultline thought. Her boot heels made noise as she walked.
Doctor Foster had been asked to keep an eye on those being released from the city's quarantine. Each individual got a tattoo of a bird on one hand or on one arm, marking them as someone affected by the Simurgh.

Faultline and Labyrinth's powers are exactly opposite to each other but both kick some serious ass. Faultline is the demolition expert of the team (besides mom and boss) and Labyrinth is the IKEA builder of the team. :lol Both of them can make plenty of money with their powers when they'll decide to retire from their mercenary work. I also think that the additional jobs are more safe.

Holy shit, Shamrock must be claustrophobic because of the time when she was locked in Cauldron Hell, poor soul.

Double Holy shit, Manton is a Simurgh victim because I remember that he have a swan tattooed on his hand. This is the explanation for his madness. He didn't become crazy because he ruined his daughter's life with a wrong serum, he was already crazy before giving his daughter the serum. Anyway, the fact that he was a victim doesn't change my hate for him and my wish to see him dead. Simurgh must hate Cauldron more than anyone else because two of her most powerful and scary victims, Manton and Noelle, are connected to Cauldron in a way or another. I don't think that is just a coincidence when it comes to Simurgh's endless planning.

Did this winged ladybitch ever sleep? Because so far I only see her planning like this is the only activity she's capable of, besides singing and building Tinker stuff and fighting Scion. Please, ladybitch, go to sleep for few thousands of years and everyone will be grateful to you. :lol
Anyway, I have to stop now and continue another day with the second part.

Good night and sleep well, my friends.

Nobody · Dec 5, 2018

blackarrow said:
Something like...Imperial China? Please, tell me, if you know, that won't be a spoiler, but a small and harmless information.

IIRC it stands for Chinese Union-Imperial.

ImperatorV · Dec 5, 2018

Nobody said:
IIRC it stands for Chinese Union-Imperial.

Yep. If I remember correctly they have an Emperor, not sure exactly how their government works. Also their national cape organization is... Unique.

blackarrow · Dec 6, 2018

ImperatorV said:
Yep. If I remember correctly they have an Emperor, not sure exactly how their government works. Also their national cape organization is... Unique.

So, there's no more communist China on Earth Bet? China returned back to its imperial days? Or it was always imperial China and never communist? Did Wildbow said something about? I'm very curious to know because I find the geopolitics/history of parallel worlds extremely fascinating. I know that Japan, Newfoundland, Switzerland were destroyed by Endbringers but what about the other countries? Is there such thing as a map for Earth Bet created by Wildbow or fans based on Wildbow's descriptions? I would like to see it/know more about the world outside US, if there aren't major spoilers. Thank you.

Vayhle · Dec 6, 2018

It's alot of spoilers to talk about that. The initial mention was too.

legendshoelaces · Dec 6, 2018

Many of the specifics about various political organizations treads into spoiler territory, but as a broad geopolitical trend the existence of capes makes it significantly easier for powerful individuals to set up authoritarian regimes - much of the world is ruled by capes or cape-adjacent organizations, whether explicitly (like some of the African warlords) or implicitly (like the Protectorate). In addition, the existence of the Endbringers and other S-class threats means that some parts of the world are written off as uninhabitable, but again, the specifics are pretty spoilery.

And then there's Cauldron. The only non-spoilery thing I can even say is that they are pulling a lot of strings in a lot of places in order to achieve their mysterious goal or goals, and that has an impact on how the world diverged.

Assembler · Dec 7, 2018

blackarrow said:
Double Holy shit, Manton is a Simurgh victim because I remember that he have a swan tattooed on his hand.

A good theory, but the timing doesn't line up. The Simurgh first appeared over two years after the Siberian did. Not to mention how many people got the tattoo to protest its use as a form of discrimination against Simurgh victims.

legendshoelaces said:
And then there's Cauldron. The only non-spoilery thing I can even say is that they are pulling a lot of strings in a lot of places in order to achieve their mysterious goal or goals, and that has an impact on how the world diverged.

For instance, the Protectorate and PRT exist as they are entirely thanks to Cauldron member Alexandria, as her interlude told us.

blackarrow · Dec 7, 2018

legendshoelaces said:
Many of the specifics about various political organizations treads into spoiler territory, but as a broad geopolitical trend the existence of capes makes it significantly easier for powerful individuals to set up authoritarian regimes - much of the world is ruled by capes or cape-adjacent organizations, whether explicitly (like some of the African warlords) or implicitly (like the Protectorate). In addition, the existence of the Endbringers and other S-class threats means that some parts of the world are written off as uninhabitable, but again, the specifics are pretty spoilery.

And then there's Cauldron. The only non-spoilery thing I can even say is that they are pulling a lot of strings in a lot of places in order to achieve their mysterious goal or goals, and that has an impact on how the world diverged.

Hmm, the world is not so bad as I imagined it to be. I mean, I expected for Earth Bet to be even worse than what you're describing me, with all Endbringers and crazy parahumans roaming free all over the world. For example, there are Marvel Alternate Universe and Timelines that are much, much worse than Earth Bet, like legit hellholes or some of them destroyed completely.
I knew that Cauldron are involved in almost every shit. I know it already.

blackarrow · Dec 7, 2018

Assembler said:
A good theory, but the timing doesn't line up. The Simurgh first appeared over two years after the Siberian did. Not to mention how many people got the tattoo to protest its use as a form of discrimination against Simurgh victims.

For instance, the Protectorate and PRT exist as they are entirely thanks to Cauldron member Alexandria, as her interlude told us.

Ok, then Manton got his tattoo because he wanted to protest against the discrimination against Simurgh victims. Good for him. He went freaking crazy homicidal maniac because he loved his daughter too much but he also was the one who destroyed her. His actions were pretty similar with Tricksters (except that Manton is a cold blooded criminal while Trickster is only a very stupid and crazy teen in love) so I'm really surprised that Simurgh have nothing to do with Manton's ultimate reason for going so batshit crazy.

The HORRIBLE human experiments called Case 53 exist entirely "thanks" to Cauldron too.

blackarrow · Dec 7, 2018

Hello, my darlings. Before I will start the second part of this Interlude and find out if Faultline Crew will find Cristof or Cristof will find them first and beat the crap out of them as a warning for never messing with Cauldron,

I have a confession to make. I think I'll love to read a crossover between my favorite Worm mercs and my favorite merc of all times, Deadpool (I like him so much because he's freaking badass and funny, ok? :lol). I imagine them being hired by the same guys for the same mission and having to make team together. After staring at them for a couple of minutes, Deadpool will be like:
-Who the fuck are these guys? They're as soft as feathers, they have a fucking boring non-killing policy, their babe boss treat them like they're her kids, not her employees, and they won't even hurt a fly despite being mercs and supposedly ruthless guys and gals. They have superpowers like me, yet they use them only if its necessary and never to kill someone. Why, why I have to take care of these babies? I never sighed for this shit, I'm a respectable merc, not a babysitter. Do you hear me, you piece of shit who write this? Yes, you stupid turd, I'm talking to you, your crossover fanfic sucks big time. Let me out of this, I work alone, I don't want them...
Faultline: God, he's talking way too much.
Spirtife: WTF he's talking about?
Newter: No idea. Hey, guys, don't stare at me like that, I didn't even touch him.
That won't be a very good crossover, but it will be a funny one anyway. :lol
Now, back to our original story Interlude 18 (Donation Bonus #4)

It had been a short-lived policy, covering only two of the Simurgh's visits to America in the span of four years. Shortly after the second event, the idea was abandoned. The idea, that people could take extra caution around anyone with a tattoo of a white bird, only generated prejudice. The affected individuals couldn't find work, they were beaten and they had their lives threatened.

The outcry had meant it was hard to spread the word about what the tattoos were intended for, and the problem was further exacerbated when some people had started getting the tattoos as a matter of protest. In some poll a year back, something like six out of ten people had been unable to say why the tattoos existed.
But it wasn't likely that the tattoos were why the Doctor had been asked to oversee this situation.
No. The person who had assigned the Doctor the job, Christof, most definitelywasn't working for the United Kingdom. Christof was, according to data they'd picked up on a job a week ago, supposedly working for Cauldron.
Which meant Cauldron wanted someone expendable that could keep an eye on things.
Faultline noted a message scrawled onto a wall: 'three thorn babys seen here may twenty. killed two one lived'.
Just below that line, there was another message, drawn in pink chalk that had streaked where moisture had run across it: 'thanks'.
Faultline walked on. Where doors were obviously open or unlocked, barriers hacked down, she peeked inside. There weren't any signs of people having resided anywhere nearby.
Her patrol carried her back to Labyrinth, Gregor and Shamrock, and the statue-topped gazebo that Labyrinth had put together in the meantime. Newter had returned and was looking out from a nearby perch.
"No luck?" Shamrock asked.
"Signs of life, not too long ago, but no people."
Gregor put down the backpack he carried and handed Faultline a water bottle.
Newter scaled his way down the side of the building nearly as fast as if he'd fallen, arriving a few seconds before Spitfire returned.
"Anything?" Faultline asked.
"Ominous graffiti, not much else."
"Those… spine babies, was it?"
"No," Spitfire said. "I couldn't read it all. Very broken English. But it said something about a Devourer."

This graffiti in broken english reminds me of the way Matryoshka and Gwerrus were talking. Since Gwerrus was killed by Armsmaster, Matryoshka was the only one from her small group who survived and its a possibility that she's still around, even after two years. I don't think she's sane, after the whole Cauldron experience, the episode with the army and heroes hunting her, people dying around her and Simurgh' song and her own crimes, but I doubt that she'll attack them. Unless she have now another group of Case 53 and they'll see Faultline Crew as their enemies. Anyway, I kind of want for Faultline to find Matryoshka and recruit her in her team even if I don't trust her too much.

But maybe she'll be useful as part of Faultline's team and will become a much better person- will stop digesting innocent people and will concentrate on the real enemies.

"Let's move. We move up six blocks, then do another patrol," Faultline said. She thought about the Devourer, and the fact that the number one priority of the people in this place seemed to be warning about the local threats. "And, until we're out of here, we walk with our weapons at the ready, flare guns in hand."

They moved up to the next location, moving deeper into the city. Faultline was pleased that she didn't have to order her team to hold formation. They were practiced enough that they did it naturally. Newter scouted out front, Gregor took the rear. Shamrock took the right flank, shotgun at the ready, and Spitfire took the left. Faultline moved in the center with Labyrinth.
She called the group to a stop when they had traveled far enough. When they paused to look at her, she gestured for them to move out, staying with Labyrinth.
"Sorry to drag you around like this," she said. "Do you feel thirsty?"
Labyrinth shook her head.
"I know new places don't help you feel more lucid," Faultline said. "And it's more than just today. We've been going from city to city, doing a series of jobs to try to dig up more info. I wanted to say thank you."
Labyrinth only stared around her, looking at the buildings.
"Maybe you want to stay here?" Faultline asked.
Labyrinth shook her head once more.
"Well, I'm glad."
A flare detonated overhead. Faultline whipped her head around. Newter.
She bolted in the direction he'd gone, holding Labyrinth's hand, pulling the girl after her.
When she saw Newter, she stopped, let herself breathe.
Civilians. Five of them. They were wielding improvised weapons. A makeshift bow and arrow, spears. Nothing that posed a serious threat to Newter.
"These are my friends," Newter said. He was holding his hands and tail up in the air. "More will be coming shortly. We're not here to hurt anyone."
"Why are you here? You're insane, coming to a place like this. You know what the Simurgh does."
"We do," Faultline said. "But we have a friend, she's got a bit of precognitive talent. Enough that it should clear us of any schemes the Simurgh is pulling."
Eyes went wide.
"We're looking for answers," Faultline said. "Information, either about or fromthe monsters who came through that portal the Simurgh made. Give us something to work with, we'll show you how to leave."
"Assuming we want to," one man said.
Why wouldn't you? Faultline wondered. She chose to be diplomatic and keep her mouth shut. "Assuming you want to. I'm sure we could come to another deal."
"Why do you want to talk to the monsters?" the woman with the bow asked. She had improvised urban camouflage paint over her face.
Faultline gestured in Newter's direction, was aware of Gregor and Shamrock arriving. She turned her head to see Spitfire coming around the corner. She gestured at her teammates, "These guys are my friends, and they're my employees. We want answers about why this happened to them. Once we have those answers, we decide where we go from there. If nothing else, it's valuable info."
"You're on their side?" a man with a spear asked.
"Yes," Faultline said. "But I could be on yours too."
The woman with the bow stepped away from her comrades. Her weapon pointed in their general direction. "You have a way out?"
"Yes."
"And you just let us go? There's no catch?"
"No catch."
"I… how do I know I can trust you?"
"You are one of us," Gregor said.
The woman froze.
"Maddie?" a man asked.
"How did you know?" Maddie asked.
"I know this feeling, of being lost. Of being very alone and not knowing who can be trusted," Gregor said.
"How can I believe you?"
"Because we've been where you've been. These two don't remember, they had their memories taken," Shamrock said, "But I didn't. I remember what it was like in there. And I get why you're afraid."
"You were in there?" Maddie asked, her eyes going wide.
Shamrock nodded. "One moment, I was going to bed in my temple-school. In another, I was in a cell. A cot, a metal sink, a metal toilet. Three concrete walls, a concrete floor and ceiling, and a window of thick plexiglass with a drawer. You might know the kind of cell I'm describing.
"They drugged me, then they waited until I started showing signs that something happened to me. It took them a while to figure out, because my power was subtle. When they had an idea of what I could do, they gave me a coin. I had to flip it when the doctor came. If it came up heads, I got to eat, I got fresh clothes, a shower. If it didn't, I got nothing. I realized I was supposed to control it. Decide the result of the toss. When I got good at it, they gave me two coins, and both had to come up heads."
"How long were you there?" Maddie asked.
"I don't know. But by the time I saw the chance to escape, I had to roll twelve dice and each one had to come up with a six. And if it didn't, if I got more than a few wrong, they found ways to punish me."
Gregor put his hands on Shamrock's shoulders.
"They made me use my power. I… I think I was one of the people they used to punish the ones who failed their tests," Maddie said.
"Christ," one of the men said. "And the freak has been with us for a week?"
Maddie turned to glare at him.
"If it means anything," Shamrock said, "I forgive you. You didn't decide to punish anyone. We did what they made us do."

Oh, God, oh, God, Shamrock...poor girl, she was TORTURED like she was animal by these...these FREAKS. Yes, Cauldron are the real freaks not the poor Case 53 people (I'm the biggest defender of Case 53 victims and I'll remain like this until the end of the story, ok? I'm so against human -and animal- experiments, no matter the reasons behind them, the whole idea make me feel sick :rage:

). Those sick freaks should be blamed not people like Maddie (I have a weird feeling that this Maddie is actually Matryoshka and she absorbs not only memories but also physical traits from her victims, this is the reason why she looks so human right now) and Shamrock. Shamrock must be so traumatized "sighs".

You know what? If Noelle will capture and clone Eidolon, I'll be VERY OK with this even if...you know, Eidolon clone is not something to joke about. But I'm not joking at all, I just want two things to happen: see how Wildbow will call Eidolon clone and if Eidolon clone will tell the whole world the truth about Triumvirate implications with Cauldron and human experiments.

Then, when the truth will be exposed, I'd like to see Tattletale contacting Doctor Mother and demanding from her to tell her everything about Cauldron's goals, since the organisation and its heroes are no longer a secret. Then ask Doctor Mother to help Undersiders/heroes to save the world without having nothing to hide anymore. After Doctor Mother will do her job, have Case 53 to decide her fate: forgive her, be thankful to her because she helped saving the world or punish her for her sins towards them. They should be the one to judge her and nobody else. If they'll let her free, then good for them and her. If they'll punish her then...good for them and bad for her. No, I will NOT be ok if Case 53 will try to kill Doctor Mother before she'll be of any use. Any help and alliance is useful to stop the Jackocalypse. But right after that, everything they're going to do to Doctor Mother should be allowed.

Maddie flinched as though she'd been struck.

"Come with us," Faultline said. "You don't have to stay with us, but we want to hear what you have to say."
"I'm a predator," Maddie said. "Not because I want to be. You don't want me to be near you."
"You were around them for at least a little while," Faultline said. "You can be around us for a few hours."
Maddie glanced around, then nodded. "When… when they tested you, did they give you a name?"
"They gave me a number at first," Shamrock said. "I couldn't use my real name or they'd punish me. When I passed a year of testing, they let me pick a codename. I picked Shamrock."
"I wouldn't pick," Maddie said. "So they gave me one. Matryoshka. I… I don't deserve my old name. So call me by that one."
"Layered doll," Faultline said. Matryoshka nodded. "Let's go. We'll leave the quarantine area, get you some proper food while we talk. If need be, we'll come back and see if we can find more people. If you wanted to guide us for a return trip, maybe direct us to others, I could pay you. Get you on your feet in the outside world."
Matroyshka smiled a little at that.
It took a little while to verify that everything was in order at the hotel. Nobody had noticed their exit and there weren't any law enforcement officers stationed nearby.
They entered the hotel room much the way they'd left, with a makeshift ladder leading to the balcony, and quickly settled in.
Matryoshka gorged herself on the groceries Faultline had bought shortly after they'd arrived. She stared wide-eyed at the television. It was the first time she'd ever seen one. It led to her excitedly describing her world between mouthfuls of food.
Faultline visited the bathroom, then stopped as a square of white caught her eye.
A note?
She opened the door to verify it wasn't attached to anything, then pulled it into the room with the toe of her boot. Closing the door, she unfolded it with her toe to verify that it didn't have any powder inside.
Only a message: 'Front desk. Message from Brockton Bay. ASAP.'
Brockton Bay? Faultline frowned. That would be Coil. He was the only one with the resources to get ahold of her group.
She was loath to leave Madison while they were having some success pulling in more information on Cauldron's operations, but…
Coil did pay well.
Well enough to warrant a phone call.
She headed down to the lobby in civilian clothes, with Shamrock as backup.
Oddly enough, there was a wait at the front desk. A young woman, dark-haired, wearing a suit and fedora, with luggage on wheels.
Arriving at four in the morning?
The woman smiled and tipped her hat at Faultline as she headed to the elevator. Faultline watched her with a touch of suspicion.
She didn't relax when the elevator doors closed. She watched the floor number for the elevator tick upward until it stopped at 'four'. Two floors above the rooms her team was in.

Whoa, whoa, you're not Cristof, lady.

You're...her fedora and suit remind me of....that BITCH BODYGUARD of Doctor Mother called Contessa.

She's Contessa. Holy fuck!!! Fautline, one of your enemies is going to KILL YOUR TEAMMATES. Doctor Mother discovered somehow that Faultline Crew is after her organisation and send her Fedora Bitch to kill them. This is getting extremely BAD. Worse than anything Noelle is doing in the meantime. Some of my favorite villains will be killed in cold blood by the possible second Siberian (I have a theory that Contessa is Doctor Mother's projection, Doctor Mother drinking from the same vial as Manton and getting the power to Master Contessa. If Contessa is indeed like Siberian, Faultline Crew will become history by the end of this Interlude. And that will be the worst ending of an Interlude so far

). Man, I'm so freaking nervous right now, I have to take a break because I feel anxious as fuck.
Back, but still anxious as fuck. I don't know if I want Faultline to go after her team or remain where she's. If she'll go after her team and fight Contessa, that will be bad because Contessa can kill her too. If she'll stay, she'll survive, but her team will be slaughtered. Not good either, Faultline will blame herself for their deaths and will possible go crazy because she loves all of them so much, they're the only family she have. Any choice will be very bad for her (and for me too because I'll suffer alongside with her

). Better to answer at phone first, and see who needs her services. Can't be Coil, that fucker is already dead, but she doesn't know this.

"What is it?" Shamrock asked.

"Gut feeling."
"About the woman?"
"Just… felt wrong. Do you mind going upstairs? Check on the others? Maybe tell them to be on guard, and get all the nonessentials packed up. Might be paranoid, but I'm thinking we should change hotels. Good enough chance we were seen, worth doing anyways."
Shamrock nodded and headed for the staircase.
"You had a message for me?" Faultline asked the woman at the front desk. "Room 202."
"Yes. A phone number."
Faultline nodded. She took the piece of paper with the number, then stepped outside to call it on her cell.
The person on the other end of the phone picked up on the first ring.
"Yes?" Faultline spoke into the phone
"This is Tattletale," the voice came through.
"Fuck me." Faultline groaned. "How the hell did you find us?"
"Long story."
"What do you want? We're not available for any jobs."
"Don't want to hire you for a job. In fact, bringing your guys into the current situation would be a fucking bad idea. Pretty much all of you are… well, let's say it'd do more harm than good."
"You're wasting my time, Tattletale."
"It's been a long night. Cut me some slack. I want to borrow Labyrinth. I don't care how many of the rest of you come. Non- combat situation, use her powers."
Faultline paused. "Why do you want her?"
"Because I have a group of people here with very little to lose and nothing left to hope for, and I need them on our side. I think Labyrinth can give them what they want."
"Labyrinth's powerful, but I can't imagine any situation where she'd be able to give anyone what they wanted. Her power's temporary. The kind of stuff you could do with her power… there's easier ways. Other people you could go to."
"I think," Tattletale said, and she managed to sound condescending, "That I understand her power better than you do."
Faultline considered hanging up.
She sighed, then raised the phone back to her ear. "You wouldn't be baiting me if you didn't think you could get away with it. Cut to the chase. What are you offering?"
"Three point four million."
Faultline blinked. Her surprise at the sum was tempered only by irritation that Tattletale had managed to get her hands on that kind of money. "Double it."
"Done," Tattletale said.
A little too fast. I'd think she was lying, but that's not why she was so fast. She expected me to make a counteroffer. Probably decided the first amount with that in mind.
Faultline grit her teeth in annoyance. "I want it in advance."
"Sure," Tattletale said, sounding far too pleased with herself. "And done."
A little too fast, again. She had that set up, damn her. "You have my account information?"
"Coil did. Don't worry about it."
Faultline hung up in irritation. She considered taking the money and refusing the job, but she -and Tattletale- knew her reputation as a mercenary was too important.
Should have refused.

I let out an inhuman scream of happiness when I discovered that Tattletale contacted Faultline to offer her this job: borrow Labyrinth for a while for her powers.

Of course that Tattletale have now Coil's endless money, not hard to guess why she can offer such a large amount of money for Labyrinth's services. So, my theory that Labyrinth have direct contact with other parallel Earths was confirmed by Tattletale?

OMG, Labyrinth can be useful to...banish Noelle to a barren Earth. This might be the reason why Tattletale wants Labyrinth. If she can teleport things from other worlds she can teleport things from their world to other worlds too. Even without triggering for a second time? She already have this second part of power but she isn't aware of her full capabilities? My God, Tattletale is going to do MORE GOOD than both Protectorate and Cauldron ever did. First, she brought Coil downfall -who was a terrible dangerous man for everyone- and now she might be the one with the idea to help Earth Bet getting rid of Noelle and possible Endbringers FOREVER? The world is so lucky that someone that Tattletale exists.

Yes, yes, you took the RIGHT DECISION to accept Tattletale's offer, Faultline. Don't ever regret it. But...but now LABYRINTH IS BRUTALLY SLAUGHTERED BY FEDORA BITCH....Cauldron is going to ruin Tattletale's GOOD plan. I remember my anxiety and now I feel bad again. I'm afraid to read further. WELP!

She made a beeline for her hotel room. She'd need to check the account information, then move funds to an account Tattletale didn't know about.

A glance at the display above the elevator showed that it hadn't moved. Faster to take the stairs to the next floor than to wait.
Her heart skipped a beat when she heard the screaming. Faultline flew up the stairs to the door, pushed her way into the second floor, and raced down the hallway to the hotel rooms.
There was blood on the door as she pushed it open.
How to even take this sort of thing in? How to describe it?
Her team had been destroyed.
Gregor was in the kitchen, on his back. His chest heaved, and he'd covered much of his upper body in a foaming slime. What she could make of his face was contorted in pain, scalded a tomato red that was already blistering.
One of Newter's arms, one of his legs and his tail had each been broken in multiple places. The remains of the coffee table, the flatscreen television and one door of the television stand lay around him, where he'd sprawled into them.
Matryoshka had unfolded into a mess of ribbons, but knives from the belt Faultline had removed to go down to the lobby had her pinned to the wall in six different places.
Labyrinth was the one screaming, steady, almost rhythmically, with little emotion to it. From the lack of affect, Faultline might have assumed she was in shock, but it was simply the fugue from her power. A small mercy – two thin cuts marked her face, and one hand was impaled to the armrest of the couch by another of the small knives.
Shamrock was busy giving Spitfire a tracheotomy. A fedora filled with slime was plastered to the younger girl's face, and she was struggling weakly. Shamrock's own face was covered in blood from nose to chin, and her efforts to administer the tracheotomy were limited as the fingers of one hand were bent at awkward angles.
"The woman in the suit," Faultline said, dropping to Spitfire's side. She noted the slime. Gregor's. And Gregor had been burned with Spitfire's breath? "Power thief?"
Shamrock let Faultline take over, positioning the clear plastic tube that was sticking into the hole in Spitfire's throat. She had to spit blood out of her mouth before speaking, "No. I don't know. She came in here and took us apart in twenty seconds. We didn't touch her."
Spitfire coughed, then started breathing at a more normal rate. She gave Faultline two pats on the wrist, calmer. A signal of thanks?
"Super speed? Super strength?" Faultline asked.
"No. Don't think," Shamrock spat blood onto the floor. She tried to stand and failed, put one hand to her leg. "Nothing I could see."
"A thinker power. Precognition? No, that wouldn't work with your power. Fuck!" Faultline scrambled to her feet, hurried to Labyrinth's side. "Hey, Elle, calm down. It's okay, it's over. Stop screaming."
Labyrinth shut her mouth, whimpered. The cuts to the face were thin. They'd heal with little to no scarring. The hand-
Faultline stopped. There was a piece of paper beneath the hand.
She helped Labyrinth raise her hand where it was impaled, leaving the knife in place.
The bloodstained piece of paper had a message on the underside.
Final warning.
-c

Thanks God Wildbow for not letting the Fedora Bitch kill my babies. Well, she injured them pretty bad (especially Spitfire; hell, Spitfire was very close to die if Shamrock wouldn't have saved her life

), but not to the point of letting them die in excruciating agony, as I expected to happen. Not how Grue got Bonesawed, for example. Anyway, this Fedora Bitch made a pretty bad first impression to me, not as bad as Doctor Mother, but close enough (after all, its not like she's the boss, she works for Doctor Mother and she's doing what her boss tells her to do; if she's a projection, she's even less guilty. She's a bodyguard, an enforcer and a thug. A classy thug. I noticed that parahumans with noble names like Marquis, Contessa, Kaiser are nothing but classy thugs or classy mafia/nazi leaders. This seems to be a pattern

). I feel much better now that I know that my mercs are...as okay as they can be after getting destroyed by a freaking badass AND ruthless as hell lady in suit. So, this is a warning. But next time Fedora Bitch will make sure that they'll be dead if they'll not stop looking for Cauldron. Well, better stop for now cause I'm really worried for you, guys, go to Brockton Bay to help Tattletale and the others with Noelle, then lets HOPE that a possible Eidolon clone will uncover Cauldron and everyone who work for it. Then, you'll not have any reason to go by yourself after clues once you'll know everything about them.

Some wild guesses about the hellish badass Fedora Bitch who managed to beat up an entire team of professional mercs, including two OP members, by herself:
-She's exactly like Siberian.
-She's a speedster (someone like Flash) and nothing can touch her or hurt her while she's so fast.
-She have more LUCK than Shamrock, Vriska (Homestuck) and Longshot (X-Men) combined and her God like luck make her virtually invincible in a fight. She doesn't even need to touch people to fuck them up. If they try something against her, they fuck themselves up.

-She's surrounded by a protective aura that repel all powers used against her.
-She mind controls them to attack each others, and they don't remember this afterwards.
-She appears as the most harmless and friendly person ever and nobody dares to attack her until there's too late.
I'll think later at more possible powers for her. All in all, Wildbow managed to create another annoying OP villain (unless she's a projection and Doctor Mother IS the annoying OP villain).
Anyway, I don't think she'd stand a chance against Deadpool in a crossover. This guy is virtually immortal, after all. Even if she'll break him in small pieces, he'll still come back to ruin her day.

Good night and sleep well, my friends.

AmbarGriss · Dec 7, 2018

Let's just say that Contessa is another of my favs

ImperatorV · Dec 8, 2018

Contessa... Is a complex character with mixed reactions from the fandom. There is one thing in particular I really admire her for, but it's spoilers.

blackarrow · Dec 8, 2018

AmbarGriss said:
Let's just say that Contessa is another of my favs

Well, the only thing I like at Contessa so far is her badassery. I have a thing for badassery, no matter how awful a character is, if they're badass enough, I like this at them. For example, I like Jack and Hookwolf's badassery, even if I hate them so much as persons.

blackarrow · Dec 8, 2018

ImperatorV said:
Contessa... Is a complex character with mixed reactions from the fandom. There is one thing in particular I really admire her for, but it's spoilers.

So, she's a character, not a projection? Ok, thanks. I'm going to eliminate projection from the list of her nature/superpowers.
My friend's favorite Cauldron character is Number Man (she told me recently). I'm curious to see if Number Man is nearly as badass as Contessa in a fight (but not against others of my favorite characters, please

) and why he's my friend's favorite (I think he can do a little more besides talking boringly about percentages).

blackarrow · Dec 9, 2018

Hello, my lovelies. Last Interlude was....SCARY AS FUCK.

It ended better than I expected (and when I say better, Faultline Crew are still alive, however injured and traumatized by the whole experience- poor Labyrinth- and they got a new member, Matryoshka or Maddie, another Cauldron victim that I want to know more about her besides her power and her perfectly understandable frustration with Cauldron. Well, they didn't got killed by Fedora Bitch alias Contessa alias Cauldron's Miss Enforcer, but she was close to kill Spitfire. Only a warning, but next time, she won't be so "merciful" anymore. The only enjoyable thing that happened during the Interlude is the fragile alliance between the businesses rivals, Tattletale and Faultline, Tattletale recruiting Labyrinth for a short time, mostly probably to put an end to Noelle's uncontrollable rampage.

Let's see if the Core and Mind of Worm, Tattletale, will confirm my theory about Labyrinth's full powers.
Speaking about theories, I have a new SHIT theory about Contessa. Her power allows her probably to see in the future and evade any attack of her enemies, before they'll actually start attacking her. Shamrock couldn't nullify Contessa's power with her own Thinker power because...because, according to my SHIT theory.....Contessa is actually the love daughter of Simurgh and a human male.

Don't ask me how a giant birdbitch was able to mate with a mere human, its all about the misteries of Endbringer Magic and the always miraculous power of true love. As half Endbringer, half human, Contessa got the unbeatable precog powers of her mother and her father's human features. Maybe she have some small wings that she's hiding under her suit as a plus for being Simurgh's child. She also embraced her human side and rejected her Endbringer's nature, expect for the powers. So, how far from truth I'm with this SHIT theory? :lol
Alright, back to...another Interlude. The second Interlude in a row. Not bad, maybe some Contessa's backstory or Noelle's backstory. I'll like more some Noelle's backstory, especially since Contessa didn't make an excellent first impression. Plus, Noelle is someone that I feel more pity for than actual hate, no matter how hard she works to make me hate her

Interlude 18

"Scout it," Noelle gave the order. "Recuperate while we wait."

Marissa sent a hawk flying through the dense foliage. Noelle could feel that dull thrum of adrenaline, feel as though time had slowed down, her perceptions and reaction times cranked up to the maximum as she assessed every skeleton and bog zombie between her team and the hawk's ultimate destination – a clearing with a withered crone standing idle in the center.
Everything was a clue, the placement the enemy had chosen for each unit crucial, because it would force them to maneuver one way or another. Was that treasure chest placed at the back of the swamp-dungeon because the enemy Overlord had wanted to put it as far out of reach as possible or was it because he wanted to bait them into a trap on that side of the room?
It would be impossible to guess from that one clue alone, but the position of the monsters, lighter on that end of the room-
"Stay to the right," she ordered.
There were reports of assent from the others.
Like being aware one was dreaming without actually disturbing the dream, it was a rare thing to be in the zone and to be aware she was in the zone. Sheknew she was right.
"Cody, go ranged."
Cody's Highwayman sheathed his rapier and drew twin pistols from his belt.
"Luke, wind magic, wind spirits. Dimplecheeks doesn't usually use casters as an overlord, but he'll stick to old habits. He'll have teleportation. Mars, circle around, poke at her from range. Go!"
They charged into the clearing. The hag, Dimplecheeks, summoned two Über demons as they breached the threshold, then teleported to the far end of the room. Luke's shaman was already setting down wind spirits who were spewing forth miniature tornadoes, casting out gusts of wind that would accelerate his team and slow down or push their enemies.
"Enemy team just turned around," Jess reported. "They're backtracking for the portal. They're going to invade en-masse."
"Fuck," Noelle said. Her mind was racing, covering a dozen factors at once – positioning her Challenger to best benefit her allies in the fight, avoiding the hag's spells, calculating the damage her team was doing, keeping track of her items, and those of her team. "How many rooms?"
"They were one room past portal, they'll be entering around now."
Ten seconds at best. "We can't kill her before they show."
"Want me to send troops?" Jess asked.
"No. Fortify your dungeon. If they take us out, you hold them off."
"You know my boss monster isn't that strong. They're only three rooms from fighting it."
"Hold them off," Noelle said.
Sure enough, the enemy appeared at the entryway of the boss room. Her team was hurt from the fight with the hag, and the enemy team hadn't ventured far enough in to burn all of their resources. Dying was inevitable. That didn't mean that their efforts were futile. She had to slow them down- She challenged the enemy's Chronomancer to a one-on-one duel, consequently shrugged off the vast majority of the damage the remainder of the enemy inflicted, and charged to close the distance to strike the mage down in three blows.
She challenged the hag the second her target was down, landed two good hits, dropping their target to a third of her total health.
Then Cody fell, with Luke falling shortly after.
Noelle managed to use her own body to absorb the worst of the enemy attacks while Marissa 'kited' across the area's perimeter, maintaining a consistent distance as she fired arrows at them.
Caught between the approaching enemy and a cloud of poison fog the hag had cast, Mars chose to rush through the latter. Her health dropped to zero and she collapsed.
"Fuck! Fuck, fuck, fuck!" Cody was shouting. He kicked something.
It was as though Cody's tantrum were happening in a very distant place. Noelle's focus was entirely on slowing the enemy down. She challenged the enemy's barbarian, because he did the lowest damage and everyone shedidn't challenge would do less damage to her. She took a swig of the potion she still had in her inventory from the start of the game. It wouldn't restore even five percent of her health, but there was a dim possibility that it would force the enemy to land just one more attack. Take a half second, or invest a few magic points into an ability to catch her. Magic points they couldn't use to take Jess on.
The three remaining enemy heroes bum-rushed her, cutting off her fighting retreat and forcing her into one location. The hag landed a toxin-bomb on her, and her health disappeared in an instant. The screen turned to shades of crimson and black, and a timer appeared in the dead center.
Forty five seconds to respawn. The enemy players were surrounded in flares of light. Level ups. It would make up for the expense of passing through the portal. It had been a good maneuver, perfectly timed, so they could disengage from Jess' own forces and backtrack through her dungeon.
"Fuck!" Cody shouted.
Cody would take thirty seconds to respawn. Thirty to forty-five seconds before they spawned at the checkpoint…
No, the enemy's bandit was backtracking through the dungeon. Hacking away at the checkpoint flag.
Now twenty to thirty-five seconds before they spawned at the dungeon entrance.
She watched the clock count down, bought new items, continued to watch the clock.
Cody respawned.
"Go!" she shouted.
Luke appeared soon after. So did the enemy Chronomancer, in Jess' checkpoint room. The enemy was on the second to last room, dispatching goblin grenadiers and goblin gunners, fighting their way past the trenches Jess had laid down.
They defeated the last of the monsters. The blood gate was satisfied and opened, giving them free rein to fight Jess' end boss, an ogre king.
The boss Dimplecheeks had put in the checkpoint room, halfway through his dungeon, was just as tough and more dangerous.
Mars and Noelle respawned, and they charged through the dungeon.
Jess had half her health remaining, the hag had one-third, but there were four enemies in Jess' boss room and Cody hadn't even reached the hag.
By the time Cody and Luke were in the hag's room, it was thirty-twenty five in the enemy's favor. The ogre king was tough, but slow, easy to hit. The enemy delivered damage steadily, while Luke and Cody were forced to adapt as the more fragile hag teleported to inconvenient spots, costing them precious seconds each time.
Noelle and Mars joined the fray.
When the fighting stopped and the screen went dark, Noelle wasn't entirely sure if they'd won or lost.
Letters in gold script flashed across the screen. 'Victory!'
The others were out of their chairs, cheering. She joined them. They hugged. She turned, saw Krouse perched on the desk in the center of the room beside Chris and Oliver. He was smiling.
Noelle hugged him, and for once she was able to forget all her doubts and insecurities, all her issues, the way even physical contact would leave her with a pit in her stomach. She hugged him tight, and it was good. It felt right.
"We're going to nationals!" Cody whooped.
"That was you," Krouse whispered to her. "You made the difference. You won."

I asked for Noelle's backstory and I got Noelle's backstory.

Hey, there are still a couple of days until Christmas but Santa came earlier with gifts for me. Thank you, Santa. Well, I've been a nice girl for the entire year so...nothing surprising here.

Plus, Noelle name is related to Christmas so...seems legit to read about her during my favorite month of the year. So, in the past, when she was still Noelle, and not a vengeful obsessed giant Clone Factory, Noelle played games with her team and won and everyone was proud of her and congratulated her for her excellent strategy who brought them victory against the opposite team of players. Well, congratulations, Noelle, you're the best at this version of D&D.

Gosh, I just can't hate this girl, even the actual "Noelle". I can't hate her, no matter how much I try. I mean, its easy for me to hate "people" like S9, because they're a bunch of psychos who want to ruin the world for shit and giggles. Easy to hate Cauldron, because even if they might have good intentions in the end, the execution of these intentions is so freaking BAD and WRONG, something that I will never agree with. Easy to hate nazis because they're bigots, racists and homophobes (everything standing against my own ethics). Easy to hate the Trio of Bitches because any sane person hates bullies and I consider myself a pretty sane person. But...its so DAMN HARD to hate Noelle, to hate what she became. Even if she's attacking my favorite characters, even if she killed some heroes that I liked, even if her clones killed innocents, I still can't bring myself to hate her.

While I agree with everyone that she should die, I can't abhor her. I can't believe that I'm saying this but I feel so much pity for her and I hope that she'll die as quickly as possible, without suffering anymore. Wildbow, you're a genius for creating such horrible but pitiful monster at the same time. I'll never deny your genius of creating unique characters.

Her breath was too hot as it passed through her lips. The exertion, this body mass, it made her feel feverish. Worse than feverish. She felt like she had when she'd been camping as a child, standing too close to the fire, seeing how long she could endure it.

Only it was all over, inside her. A prickling, almost unbearable heat.
I know why you showed me that, she thought. She looked at Trickster; he adjusted his hat, swapped Sundancer with one of the flying capes. The sun fizzled out as she landed. One threat out of commission. Ballistic and the other cape he'd arrived with were down as well.
She tried to read Trickster's body language. Back straight, walking with confidence. He'd hesitated when she'd asked for his help. Now there wasn't a trace of doubt.
She'd admired that about him, had been jealous of it. The confidence. The sense of pride.
But the memory that had flashed across her consciousness, almost more vivid than reality, the emotions very real as she recalled them, it hadn't served the intended purpose.
You can't convince me that way, she thought. This victory and that one don't even compare.
There wasn't a reply, of course.
"Bitch! Run!" Regent hollered. "Go to Tattletale!"
Only his head, shoulders and one arm were free of Noelle's grip. She tugged and pulled him in faster. He put his free arm inside her flesh, found something more or less solid and managed to push back enough to avoid having his head pulled in.
Trickster and Noelle wheeled around. Bitch, the girl with the dogs, was the last Undersider here. Trickster couldn't find an angle to swap the girl with anyone else. The boy in the armor would be too large, and Trickster's field of vision didn't allow for him to get his eyes on her and someone more appropriate.
Noelle tagged several of the bodies in her internal stomachs, felt flesh constrict tight against them, felt the pre-prepared nuggets of flesh in her gullet forming into close replicas in an instant. Timing was crucial; if she spat them out too soon, they'd be malformed, missing limbs or features. Too late, and there was extra material.
She retched, sending them flying in the direction of the girl with the dogs. Bodies for Trickster to use.
But the boy with the armor was already moving. He slammed one hand into the ground, and a cloud of debris and dust masked him and Bitch.
She couldn't wholly control the vomit, lost one of the powered ones. Not one of the Undersiders, she was relieved to note. It had been the big one, who'd been with the tinker. He'd called himself Über. She didn't try to reclaim him. He was more or less useless. The loss still pained her. Better to have him than one of the unpowered ones.
Her vomit caught Genesis, who was presently a charging bull with a jellyfish-like tentacles trailing behind her. The vomit blinded Genesis, and Noelle struck her hard enough to kill. The body collapsed and started disintegrating.
"Hey," Regent said. "Monster girl."
Noelle snarled as she glanced down at the boy who was stuck inside one of her legs. Only his face was left to be consumed. Her voice was hoarse with emotion as she asked, "What?"
"When you make my clone, do you think you could give him a goatee?"
Noelle didn't dignify the question with a response. She flexed and drew Regent completely within her body. She'd hurt him later. For now, she needed him to help her escape so she could hunt down his friends.
She ran. The simple act of moving flooded her body with endorphins and adrenaline. It felt good, made her feel strong. That was another avenue of attack, as her body tried to work its manipulations on her mind. The hunger, the heightened emotions, rewarding her with pleasant memories and good feelings when she operated in sync with it.
It was a matter of weeks, days or hours before she lost enough ground thatshe was the one trying to manipulate her body into doing what she wanted, with it calling all the shots. If the process continued, she would eventually be subsumed entirely, unable to do anything but observe, and maybe not even that.
The pavement had been cracked like a sheet of glass, and the footing was unsteady, but the mass of her body was crushing fragments underfoot, and she had four good legs, with five more for further support. Falling wasn't a concern.
Noelle passed through the cloud of dust that the one in armor had sent flying into the air. She saw the armored tinker punching the ground once more, leaped to clear the ground that suddenly plunged into a pit in front of her. She picked out a selection from those within her and, with her rightmost head, sent a stream of bodies at him. He punched the ground with his other hand, and pavement tilted upward in a makeshift barrier, blocking the worst of the stream and flying bodies.
The ones who did land in his vicinity were on him in moments. One was the little space-warper, another was a copy of the firebreathing acrobat with the rich smell, and three were copies of the unpowered people she'd absorbed. They mobbed the armored tinker.
She hadn't included the Undersiders in that stream. Until they were more fully absorbed, there was a good chance that she'd spit them out if she tried to copy them. Using any one person too frequently carried the same risks, and she suspected that it would be more difficult now that she was so full.
The girl in silver armor, with white flowing clothes was dashing toward her from the other side, not any slower for the shattered ground underfoot. Noelle picked out unpowered individuals she could afford to lose, closed her muscles tight around them, and spat out the partially formed nuggets along with a mess of the internal fluids.
The girl ducked low, landing on a fragment of road, using her forward momentum to skid toward Noelle as though she were snowboarding. There was an explosion of debris as she kicked off the ground, and the girl soared toward Noelle, twisting in the air to land a kick with that same foot.
It felt like getting hit by a cannon. Noelle's stride broke and she had to plant one foot to the side to keep from falling over.
She'd lost ground, and Bitch was swiftly increasing the distance between them.
Noelle hesitated, then decided to let the girl go for the time being. Better to defend herself, establish a better position. While stationary, she could spit up an Undersider, swallow them back up again. She'd read up on them, had talked to Trickster about them. She had a good sense of what they were capable of.
But which one? She had three. Regent might work against this girl in white, but his influence would be too minor in the big picture. His smell was weakest of the three.

Ha, Regent is funny even when he's in DEEP SHIT. :lol While I still don't like him (for reasons that I mentioned a couple of times), I like how badass he can be even when confronted with life and death situations. A fearless and sarcastic "foul". Guys, I think that I have a very bad feeling about what might happen if Regent is inside Noelle's stomach and he can't use his power on a certain PSYCHO GLASSBENDER BITCH. Once free from his control, Shatterbird will try to get revenge not on heroes or Noelle, who didn't do anything to her, but on the rest of Undersiders, who ruined her life. She'll unleash a GLASS STORM, adding more clusterfuck to the already tangle of clusterfuck. Their biggest mistake for not killing her instead of using her and hoping that nothing will break Regent's control over her. I mean, I'm ok with using her, she was pretty useful to the team but...one should remember something: playing with a psycho is like playing with fire itself.

Not that it was really a smell… but she was peculiarly aware of the people with powers, active or otherwise. Each had a texture and a tone and a flavor, something she felt like she could come to understand. She might have said it was taste, might have compared it to when she'd tried wine that one time and tried to see what the wine aficionados looked for when they sampled a vintage. Except the word 'smell' worked better, because smell and taste were really very similar and smell worked over distances.

There was a difference in Skitter, Grue's and Eidolon's smells, along with a handful of the other visiting capes. A smell that set them apart from the other parahumans in the same way that the other parahumans were set apart from the people who could have powers but didn't. An intensity.
She wished she'd spent more time researching the powers. She hadn't been able to bring herself to, had wanted only to distract herself from the thoughts of what was happening to her.
Which one to use? Skitter was more dangerous in a general sense, but she wouldn't stop the girl in white now. That left Grue.
She didn't spit, but simply contracted and let the body spill forth. Sure enough, the real Grue tumbled out, prostrate, unable to move. A tongue snaked out of her center-mouth and caught him before he could try to escape. She'd swallowed him by the time her Grue was on its feet.
Noelle only had a glimpse of her Grue's real form before he started cloaking himself in darkness. He was muscular, broad-shouldered, his long hair slicked to his head by the fluids of the vomit. Angry red ulcers studded his dark skin at set intervals.
He cast a glance over his shoulder at her as the darkness crept up over his shoulders and the back of his head. His eyes were black from corner to corner, his teeth too large, misshapen much like his fingernails were, tangled together to the point that he couldn't open his mouth. It forced him into a perpetual grimace with his teeth bared.
He turned his back to her as the darkness covered his face, squared his shoulders. The body language was clear. He was protecting her.
He's one of the useful ones, then. Her copies of the little space warper had been like that. Naturally inclined toward teamwork, disciplined. The other three were more likely to run off. They were still useful, but they did things in their own way.
Spheres of darkness appeared in her Grue's hands. One after the other, he hurled them at the girl in white. The first missed, and the second seemed like it might do the same, until it arced in the air to strike her from the side.
The darkness was more like gum than smoke, and she struggled. Noelle's Grue closed the distance, moving over the surface of the road much as the girl in white had.
Then Noelle saw why and how. A thread of darkness, barely thicker than a finger, extended from the sticky darkness to her Grue. That would be how he'd moved the projectile in the air, and how he was absorbing her power.
The boy in armor created a fissure that spat debris into the air as it parted, aiming to separate the Grue and the girl in white. By intent or accident, he cut the thread of darkness in the process. Noelle's Grue stopped, turned to face the tinker and created more spheres in his hands.
Those two were occupied. Noelle turned to see Trickster dealing with the flying heroes. Two were on the ground, prone. That would be the result of Trickster baiting them into shooting one another. The remaining hero had a weapon in hand but wasn't shooting.
Eidolon was there too. His smell was interesting. Complicated, but somehowoff. If he was using any particular method of attack on Trickster, then Noelle couldn't see it.
Trickster disappeared from the skirmish with the flying heroes, putting one of her creations in his place.
She sniffed him out. He was in the midst of the one batch of bodies that had piled up against the tinker's makeshift wall. They were turning on him, grabbing for his arms and legs. He teleported to keep them from getting any serious leverage, but the escape was slow.
"Leave him!" she ordered, and her voice came out with surprising volume.
They didn't listen. They struck him, gripped his costume and dragged him to the ground.
Trickster shouted in alarm as he was submerged in the mass of clones.
Noelle advanced on her creations in as threatening a manner as she could, the ground shaking with her advance. They noticed and backed away.
Trickster, for his part, didn't even flinch as she closed the distance between the two of them, stepping within a few feet of him.
It would be all too easy to just snap her tongue at him. Catch him, swallow him.
She held off. Instead, she faced Eidolon and the other flying cape.
Trickster adjusted his hat and did the same. The two of them against the world.
"It's not you, it's me," she said.
Krouse folded his arms. "You can't blame me at least a little?"
"No," Noelle said, shaking her head. If I could only explain, I would… She could feel her throat seize up. Worrying that her voice might crack if she spoke at the normal volume, she lowered her voice to a hush as she said, "You've been great."
He spread his arms, "I don't get it. I thought we were doing fine."
Doing fine? How many hours had she spent lying awake in bed, agonizing over this relationship? Hating herself?
She'd relapsed because of it, and recovering was proving to be a long, hard road.
"We aren't!" Noelle said, "This is… it's not working."
"I'm okay with it. I enjoy spending time with you, and I didn't get any impression you were having that bad of a time, either."
"But we don't- we aren't-" She stared down at her feet. "We're stalled. It isn't fair to you."
"That's what you're worried about?"
Only part of it.
"Don't dismiss my concerns," she said, and the anger in her own words surprised her.
"No', it's fine. It's cool. I get that there's stuff you've got going on that you don't want to tell me about," Krouse said.
Her breath caught in her throat at that. Had Marissa told him? Or had he figured it out? It wasn't like she hadn't left signs.
He continued without a pause, "…I can be a bit of a jerk sometimes, but I'm not an idiot. And I'm not going to twist your arm to get you to share, either. That's your stuff, and I figure you'll tell me in time. Or you won't."
"It's not fair to you." Noelle knew she was repeating herself, but it was the only argument she could make. All of the others would involve discussing other topics, her issues.
And she couldn't bring herself to do that. Marissa knew, would keep quiet because she got it. Marissa knew, wouldn't bring it up, would back her up when needed.
Noelle loved Krouse, but she knew he wasn't so graceful. It would become something jarring, intruding on their everyday interactions.
"I'm not saying things have to be equitable or balanced or fair or any of that. So who cares if things aren't fair?" Krouse asked.
"Don't do that!"
She could see his expression change to bewilderment at her reaction. He spread his arms, as if he were asking a question without opening his mouth. I'm being irrational… but that's the disease at work.
It took her a long time to find the words.
"Someone said, a little while ago," Noelle spoke without looking at Krouse, "That I can't really forge a good relationship with others until I have a good relationship with myself."
"You don't?" He asked. "I think you're fantastic, if that counts for anything."
The words stung, nettled her, as if they personified his lack of understanding. She said as much, "You don't know me."
"I've been getting to know you some. And I have yet to see anything that's going to scare me away."
She couldn't keep going down this road, couldn't have an argument, or she'd let something slip. She stared at her feet. "…I don't think we should date."
"Okay. If you think that's for the best. But I just need you to do one thing. Look me in the eye as you tell me that."
Noelle glanced up at him, then looked back down. She tried to find the words, but both brain and mouth failed her.
"Because," he went on, "I think you've seemed happier than I've ever seen you since we started going out. Marissa said so, too."
It's… it's a bad time for me, she thought, as if voicing the words in her head would let her utter them out loud. The wrong moment. Any earlier or later in my recovery…
He continued, "If you really feel like us dating is making things worse in the long run, then I'm perfectly okay with breaking it off. I can leave the club if that makes things easier on your end. It was your thing before it was mine, and you've got enough on your plate with being team captain."
"I don't want you to leave the club," she said, meaning it.
"Okay," he said. He paused very deliberately. She didn't take the invitation to speak.
He sighed, "Listen, I get the feeling today is a bad day. Don't know why it is, but it is. And that happens. Fine. But I'm not willing to end this if it's because the stars aligned wrong. So I'm asking you to tell me that you're worse off because we're together. Not asking for an explanation, just-"
Can't do this. Can't break it off. Not when he's being this good about it. Not when it's making the both of us this miserable.
"Never mind," she said, abrupt. I'll find another way.
"Never mind?"
"I'm- just never mind. Can we forget this conversation happened?"
"Sure," he said.
Her feelings were a chaotic storm. Relief, quiet joy, fear, misery, self loathing, panic…
I'm not well, she thought.
"Want me to walk you home?" His voice was gentle.
She nodded mutely, unable to find the words to speak. A simple five word confession would simultaneously explain everything and spoil the tone of their relationship. She knew it, knew she was being irrational, that her recent relapse was making her that way, was making her nasty and emotional and unpredictable.
How could he not notice? The way she picked at her food, the way Marissa got on her case about eating? The countless other clues? Yes, she'd been in recovery for much of the time they'd known each other, but… hadn't he been paying attention?
She simultaneously loved and hated him, in that moment. He was the best thing in the world for her, and the worst thing in the world for her, both at the same time.

Back to her backstory, when her monstrous self remembers about her human self. The way that her eating disorder is described make me think at anorexia. She was so afraid of gaining weight that she refused to eat or she ate very little. So, she was anorexic. And since the powers sometimes try to solve their host's problems, her powers "solved" her anorexia by turning her into a bulimic (she eats people then vomit their clones). Her powers replaced an eating disorder with another eating disorder.

I was never anorexic neither bulimic but I've meet people with these life-threatening eating disorders and I feel terrible sorry for them. I never condemn them like some people are doing because I know that they have real problems, they need all the understanding and support, and if they don't get any help as quickly as possible, they end up destroying themselves.

I'm glad that Marissa was supportive towards Noelle and I think that Noelle was especially a strong person since she decided to fight with her problem and overcome it, instead of letting herself being defeated by it. Krouse loves her so much, I'll never doubt his pure and sincere feelings for her, but he's a bit ignorant about her problems, maybe because he's not such a bright boy or he can't understand if he was never in her situation (usually, its pretty rare for boys to be anorexic or bulimic) or he never knew someone else in her situation before meeting her. But I don't judge him. He loves her more than anything else on the world and he proved this to her. By saving.....and ruining her life at the same time. Indeed, the best and the worst thing for her.

And it wasn't fair to him, putting that on his shoulders.

She was fighting with Eidolon. The realization startled her. She'd been adrift in vivid memories, and she'd lost time.
She sniffed, for lack of a better word, and found Skitter prone on the ground. Her tongue snatched the girl up, and she swallowed the girl anew. The taste and smell were right. Good.
That spooked her. Her body wasn't making good decisions when it was on autopilot. Or, at least, it wasn't making decisions she'd accept. Almost losing an Undersider? No.
She double checked. Skitter, Grue, Regent and the little space warper were safely ensconced inside her, each tucked away in neat little wombs, unconscious and helpless and safe from the ongoing fighting.
Why did you show me that? Why was that so important?
There was no reply. Never a reply.
Eidolon reached out with one hand, and she instinctively rushed out of the way.
The gravity effect hit her, and she could feel her flesh tearing, feel the extremities ripping: her ears, nose, lips and all the little pieces of her monstrous lower half. At her shoulders, the top of her head, the flesh above her spine on her lower half, the flesh was pulled down and away until it started to rip.
Eidolon fell out of the air, hitting the ground hard.
Noelle turned her head, saw Regent. Her Regent. He was only half-formed, one arm missing, the features of his face more like a fetus than a teenage boy.
She smiled. Maybe her other half had made some good decisions.
Her flesh was already knitting back together, everything shuffling into their proper places or shifting around to fill in gaps. The fluid that welled from a bottomless source in her monstrous lower half bubbled up and coursed through her veins to supply the needed materials.
The girl in white hit her again, striking the joint of one outstretched limb. Noelle swiped at the girl in mid-air with her other forelimb, came within inches of making contact.
The ground underfoot shattered. Noelle leaped before the tinker could repeat the effect and sink her into another sand trap.
There was another explosion from beneath her. She leaped to avoid the worst of that one. She vomited in the direction of the tinker, but he was anticipating the attack. He provoked an eruption of rock shards and dust midway between them. The bulk of the flying bodies and fluids were knocked off course by the plume of debris. With a third strike he raised a barrier around himself. Two of the three bodies that hadn't been stopped by the debris were caught on the shards of pavement. One suffered a broken back, the other hit the edge of a fragment with enough force that his stomach was ripped open.
The third flew over the barrier. The tinker caught it with a punch, and the piledriver in his gauntlet extended twice in an instant, punching two neat holes through the upper body.
He didn't even wait for the body to hit the ground before striking and creating another fissure that extended beneath the barrier and beneath her. She leaped out of the way before it opened wide enough to catch her or one of her feet.
It was bad timing. She had been distracted by the recent vision. Eidolon hit her square-on with another gravity attack. Her flesh was savaged and split, she was almost immobilized under the force of it. If the tinker used his power now-
Trickster broke Eidolon's contact with the gravity field by teleporting him. The hero reacted in an instant, releasing a half-dozen blue sparks from each hand.
They grew until they were each three feet across, crackling with electricity, moving at a walking pace as they slowly homed in on Trickster.
He had to teleport to avoid the closest one. Only some of the orbs followed him to his new destination, the others remaining where they were.
Noelle opened fire on the tinker, two streams of vomit, each directed to one side of him.
She considered vomiting on the electric orbs, then thought twice about it.
Trickster teleported again, trying to maintain distance, but Eidolon had created more of the sparks, and the things were spreading out evenly across the battlefield, moving closer to Trickster if he got within ten paces of them.
It threatened to hamper her own movements too, Noelle noted.
Eidolon raised a hand in Trickster's direction, and Trickster was quick to teleport away. The gravity slam hit one of Noelle's creations instead. Trickster wound up within two paces of one orb, and had to scramble back before it touched him.
Noelle looked at him, remembered the scene from the most recent memory. In this moment, with so many other people to be angry at, so many others to hate, she didn't feel that bottomless resentment for Trickster that she'd experienced ever since the transformations started.
It wasn't you, she thought. I keep saying it was your fault. It wasn't.
She was already moving towards him as the thought came to her.
I blamed you for giving me the elixir. The potion. Whatever you call it. But it was me. I heard you guys talking about how the people who drank the stuff were supposed to get tested for psychiatric issues. I didn't tell you the Simurgh showed me visions of my worst days, of my relapses, my lowest points. That she drove me into a state where I was reluctant to take the full dose, eager for a compromise.
She started running.
I knew all this, and if I'd only had the courage to say it, maybe this all would have gone a different way.

Just two of them against the whole world....I can't really hate Trickster too because he's a stupid young man in love. If he'll survive, he'll go straight to Birdcage, but I think that his biggest punishment will be to lose his sweetheart forever- to see her being killed or banished on another Earth while he will be unable to help her. This punishment will break him completely. Birdcage will be Paradise to the Hell in his soul.
I think both of you are equally responsible for everything that happened, Noelle. Well, the main responsible here is the Flying Wretch, but Noelle wanted so much to survive that she accepted any compromise as long as her life was saved. Krouse accepted to poison her as long as he knew that the poison will save her life so its not fair for her to take all the blame upon herself when all parties brought their own contribution to this DISASTER.

As a matter of fact, Eidolon fights like the most BADASS FUCKER IN THE HISTORY OF BADASSERY, but I'm usually paying more attention to Noelle's character analyze than the actual fight. Sorry.

Oh, the irony, that this was what she'd become.

She crashed into the first of the lightning orbs. She felt the current surge inside her, settle in her bones, latent.
A heartbeat later, every single orb that Eidolon had cast out flashed with visible arcs of electricity, striking her. The energy ripped through her, stripping flesh from around the bone of her arm, her ribs, her spine, and the larger bones of her lower body. The electricity surged to the ground and out the top of her head, stabbing toward the sky in a visible lightning strike.
Noelle staggered, touched one hand to her face, where her flesh had been distorted by the strike, separated from bone so it hung down, large patches of hair at the crown of her head burned away. The ends of her fingers where she'd touched the orb were blasted away, revealing bone.
She could feel it growing back, flesh knitting together.
Even this wasn't enough to kill her.
She touched another, and it was worse, drawing on the residual energy from the first contact.
The third was worse still.
She'd complained of the sheer heat of this body before, but this… it was heat and pain on an inhuman level. Transcendant. Were she regular Noelle, Noelle without the powers, without the monstrous lower half and warped brain, even a tenth of this would knock her out, stop her heart from the sheer intensity of it.
On contact with the fourth orb, her frontmost legs collapsed under her, with everything within a half-foot of the major bones being rendered to little more than ash. There was nothing to connect flesh to bone, and she toppled.
She roared, and for perhaps the second time in the past hour, both she and her monstrous half were in agreement. With her other legs, she pushed herself forward, and extended one of her long tongues for the orb closest to Trickster. To Krouse. She screamed in pain and fury as it ripped through her, and another bolt stabbed toward the sky.
Too much damage, too fast. She wasn't healing fast enough.
A series of lightning strikes nearby marked the deaths of some of her clones.
Eidolon was there, too, at the end of the street. The glow beneath his hood and sleeves was almost blue in the reflected luminescence of the twenty or thirty orbs that hovered around him. A further twenty or thirty orbs were spread out over their immediate surroundings.
The others… the tinker had created short walls of stone to shield himself and the girl in white. The rest of the battlefield consisted of bodies and other fallen.
Eidolon spoke into his wrist. Noelle realized that there were other capes nearby when they each came to a stop, resting on rooftops and behind cover a few blocks away.
Short of Eidolon, there was nobody for Trickster to swap himself with. And given that Eidolon had so many orbs in his immediate vicinity… no, Trickster swapping himself for Eidolon wasn't an option.
Her other half hated him, and she was realizing just how much her monstrous body had been influencing her without her knowledge, now that her emotions were all pointed at this one individual, this one target. It left her feelings towards everyone else at an almost normal level. Her feelings for Krouse, her hatred of the Undersiders, her anger at Coil, each had been twisted, magnified, warped.
"If he does another gravity attack, I'm kind of dead," Trickster said.
"He won't," Noelle rasped, "He'd knock those orbs out of the air, and he's counting on them to destroy me. They probably will."
As some of her tendons and ligaments knit together, she got two legs under her and positioned herself as close to Trickster as she could without touching him, shielding him from the orbs that were approaching at a crawling pace.
"I'm sorry," Trickster said.
Noelle couldn't bring herself to reply. She wanted to say she was sorry too, that his apology was unnecessary, but a kind of indignant rage was rising deep within her, threatening to overwhelm her. All of it was directed at Eidolon.
And in the midst of that rage, she felt a killing instinct she hadn't experienced before. Even coming this far, she'd never wanted to kill. She'd wanted the Undersiders dead, yes, she'd tried to kill people, but a part of her had always held back from wanting to kill, from wishing to carry out the act of murder herself.
To execute this man who sought to end her existence.
It wasn't her desire, not really. It was her body's.
"You want to kill?" she asked. "You really think you can fight your way through this?"
"What?" Trickster asked. "What are you talking about?"
Not talking to you, she thought. "I have two conditions. Don't harm Trickster, and make it a nice memory this time."
Then she let her defenses down. Her other self took over, and it wasn't her memory that she experienced.
Some of the others departed early. Others were readied to depart soon after arrival. Still others, this one included, were to wait.
They were one, they were all. A collective, a single entity, a trillion times a trillion entities. Each with a function in the whole, each with a role in the cycles, each with an individual identity.
As one, they traveled. The distance was immeasurable, the passage of time impossible to convey. There was no standard, for there were realms they had traveled where time and space operated on different levels.
For all, their own kind was the only standard, the only thing that remained relatively static through the cycles. When they met their own kind they shared with each other. When a new cycle was carried out, everything of the parent was borne by their spawn.
And the collective moved toward their destination. They operated as a whole to decipher it, to pick apart the permutations, see the futures and the possibilities.
But for this one entity, which existed as part of the whole, there was a target within that destination. When it came time for this one to depart, it would seek out a particular individual, and it would bond with that individual. This one would fragment itself if others met the criteria; if there was time and opportunity enough then it would move to better candidates, younger or more able ones with a greater ability to affect the cycle. This one would wait until the time was right, and then it would activate, come into the identity and role that had been ingrained into its being.
All to serve this cycle.
With the help of the collective, this one could see its objective. A single living being. This one encoded that being, the time and place in its very makeup. It would be ready.
Noelle's eyes went wide.
It wasn't me.
Whatever her body was, the intelligence and purpose that lurked inside her other half, whatever these powers were. It had all gone to the wrong person.
Gone to the wrong person, askew from the beginning, then twisted further by her own psychological issues, messed up by the fact that she'd only taken half a dose.
The realization and the confusion that came with the vision were compounded as she stared at her surroundings.
Her minions surrounded her: two copies of Trickster; a skinny girl with long dark hair, covering herself with her arms and a carpeting of rodents, Skitter; a Grue; a Regent; two blondes who would be copies of the girl in white; four of the civilians, and one she didn't recognize as any of the civilians she'd absorbed. The tinker. Eight of them in all.
Her flesh was knitting together. Wounds as bad as the ones before, and worse ones. Eidolon had apparently wanted to spare her captives, because the electricity had only affected her, her flesh as it surrounded her bones. He had selected that power with their safety in mind.
And there he was, in front of her. Eidolon, on his knees, covered in bile and blood.
"Why?" he asked, in an eerie, distorted voice.
You want to know why I did this? Where would I start? Why would I even tell you, when you tried to kill me, kill Trickster?
She was breathing too hard to respond, even with her nearly bottomless stamina.
"Why isn't it working?" He asked.
"I…" she had to stop for breath, "I don't care. Whatever it is."
"I was supposed to get stronger, and there's nothing. Nothing at all to reach for."
She turned, saw Trickster on his hands and knees, covered in the fluids of her vomit.
You weren't supposed to hurt him.
You were supposed to give me a nice vision, for that matter, she thought.
"Why?" Eidolon asked.
"I don't care," she said, again. She took a deep breath before speaking again, though there was little point, when it was this entire body that was so drained.
"I… it's your choice. We continue this fight, and my creatures run, they do whatever damage they can, and it's weeks before you find every last one… or you let me go."
Eidolon struggled to his feet. "Let you go?"
"Three Undersiders down. Three to go. Then I give myself up. Deal stands."
"What's to say you keep that promise?"
"Nothing. But you don't have another choice, do you?"
Eidolon didn't respond.
"I'll even let you call in reinforcements," she offered.
"Your knight in shining armor took it," Eidolon spoke. "The wristband I use for communications."
Noelle turned to Trickster, and he extended one hand, holding out one of the wristband displays. Noelle took it.
Her Skitter was watching, looking concerned.
"Don't fucking look at me," Noelle spat the words at her minion.
Her Skitter turned her eyes to the ground.
"Trickster said you thrived on this kind of impossible fight. Prove it. Or die horribly. I don't care."
Her Skitter looked up and smiled, lopsided. Half the girl's face was paralyzed, Noelle realized. She wondered if the real Skitter had spaces between each of her teeth like that, or the gnarled twist of a nose.
Noelle turned back to Eidolon, waited for his decision.
"Okay," he intoned. She gave him a curt nod.
Tentatively, Eidolon slid the armband into place and pressed a button. "Requesting reinforcements to my location. In bad shape, need to mop up some clones."
Her Regent said something she couldn't make out. He talked as though his tongue was too large for his mouth. He had more muscle than fit on his frame, stretching his skin almost comically tight. It was easy to believe the problem extended to the inside of his mouth.
"And they let me pass uncontested," she said.
He spoke into the armband again. "Do not engage target Echidna."
"Understood," a woman's voice came from the armband.
"Echidna?" Noelle asked.
"One of the PRT members coined it," Eidolon said. He was eyeing her minions warily. "Said he had a three year old girl called Noelle, didn't want to associate her with something like you."
"What was his last name?"
Eidolon gave her a wary look. "Meinhardt."
"Okay," Noelle said.
Then she turned to run, leaving Trickster behind.

I have to look at tags to see how Wildbow decided to call the fresh new clones. So, what we have here? Abhorror- I suppose is Grue's clone, Charlatan - Trickster clone? Gross must be Grace clone because they sound pretty similar, Scurry must be Skitter because of the rats (she also seem to control rats instead of bugs), Temblor is Tecton and Vizier is Regent since he's the last. Very cool alternate codenames, some of them cooler than the original ones. So, the heroes decided to call Noelle Echidna (in greek mythology, Echidna was a fearsome monster, half woman, half snake) so I think this comparison fits Noelle. I'm going to re-name her Echidna. I also agree with Eidolon's decision because that would be my decision too if I were in Eidolon's place. He decided that the lives of civilians is more important than protecting villains.

If he'd have continued to fight against Echidna and ignore the clones, the clones would have killed civilians (or the families of the cloned parahumans; imagine Danny being killed by Scurry

) but he decided to kill the clones and let Echidna capture the rest of Undersiders, possible saving a lot of innocent lives in the process. Good decision, any decision where civilian lives are saved is a good decision.

On a more positive note, watch Echidna having to fight against the entire Triumvirate in no time and her clones will be obliterated. On a more negative note, watch Trickster trying to teleport every single member of the Triumvirate right into Echidna's claws or tentacles so she can clone them.

Her nose led her to the remaining Undersiders.

Back home, insofar as she had one. The same place where she'd been kept contained for weeks. Coil's headquarters.
Surfacing from her dream, she'd temporarily supplanted the killer instinct that was demanding Eidolon's head. Now that she was closer, her thoughts were afire with thoughts of revenge, and that killer instinct was welling up again. The idea that she'd maybe had the chance to get back to normal, that her friends had maybe been close to going home, and the Undersiders had taken all that away, it made her want to scream. To inflict punishments worse than death on them.
Her vision from before lingered. The entity. The thing that was taking her over, that had made her a monster, it had an identity, now. She wouldn't say it had a face, but it was no longer a vague malevolent force, now.
Part of her felt sympathetic for it, because this thing that shared her body had been wronged by some nebulous circumstance. In that, at least, they were kindred.
Another part of her was just bewildered. The memory it had shared with her was so vast, it changed everything, had left her feeling like her problems here were so small, so miniscule. Even this, this fight, her revenge, in a way it felt artificial, false.
It's not my world, she thought. It's almost like a game. Killing characters in some false, barbaric setting.
If she felt like she was more in sync with it, now, did that mean she'd lost ground in her perpetual war with the entity, her other half? So much ground lost, so fast, in the heat of this battle?
She shook her head. Focus.
The tunnels that Coil had used to move his trucks in and out of the base had been collapsed, and it had been recent. She could smell the smoke from the explosives. She spat out a Vista, then another, and another, until she had one that could give her a way in, shrinking the rubble and expanding the corridor.
In her restlessness, unable to shake the idea that her sanity was slipping away moment by moment, she pushed her way through the last length of the rubble, absorbing it into herself and spitting it out behind her, moving through it as though she were a thick fluid; even her bones dissolved when needed. The only thing that slowed her down were the capes she'd stored within herself. Each of the three Undersiders, the tinker, and the girl in white. She used her strength to wedge gaps sufficient to squeeze the individual organs through.
She brute-forced her way through the last few feet of the barrier, and paced her way into the interior, the ground shaking with her footfalls. The vault door was still open, crumpled, and the entire interior was lit only by red emergency lights.
Tattletale was on the metal walkway, hands gripping the railing. Bitch was on the ground, with no less than seven dogs around her, each of varying size.
Noelle could smell the Protectorate and Wards members moving towards her location. She was put in mind of the memory her entity had granted her only a little while ago, of the night her team had passed the qualifiers for nationals. She'd passed the point of no return, and now the enemy forces were collapsing in on her.
She smiled a little. She would almost thank Tattletale for this, if she wasn't so eager to rend the girl limb from limb, to wipe the smile from her face and hear her screams. All that aside, Noelle hadn't felt more like herself in a long time, and she had these circumstances to thank.
The difference between this scenario and that one, really, was that the reinforcements were minutes away. This fight wouldn't last that long.
"Well then," Tattletale grinned. Her tightening grip on the railing betrayed the emotion she was trying to hide. "Come on. Do your worst."

Tattletale grinning and sounding so confident and fearless? She SURELY must have a plan against Echidna and she acts like a bait so Bitch and Imp can make the plan working behind her back.

Maybe Labyrinth is already there and Tattletale only waits for the right moment to signal the girl to use her power on Echidna. Everytime when Tattletale grins, her foe is UTTERLY DESTROYED. :lol Sounds like an excellent plan, but I just hope that she's not going to use Labyrinth before releasing all the people from inside Noelle first. Especially since 3 of these people are her teammates.

Good night and sleep well, my friends.

Xexilf · Dec 9, 2018

No comment on the weird memory?

Then she let her defenses down. Her other self took over, and it wasn't her memory that she experienced.
Some of the others departed early. Others were readied to depart soon after arrival. Still others, this one included, were to wait.
They were one, they were all. A collective, a single entity, a trillion times a trillion entities. Each with a function in the whole, each with a role in the cycles, each with an individual identity.
As one, they traveled. The distance was immeasurable, the passage of time impossible to convey. There was no standard, for there were realms they had traveled where time and space operated on different levels.
For all, their own kind was the only standard, the only thing that remained relatively static through the cycles. When they met their own kind they shared with each other. When a new cycle was carried out, everything of the parent was borne by their spawn.
And the collective moved toward their destination. They operated as a whole to decipher it, to pick apart the permutations, see the futures and the possibilities.
But for this one entity, which existed as part of the whole, there was a target within that destination. When it came time for this one to depart, it would seek out a particular individual, and it would bond with that individual. This one would fragment itself if others met the criteria; if there was time and opportunity enough then it would move to better candidates, younger or more able ones with a greater ability to affect the cycle. This one would wait until the time was right, and then it would activate, come into the identity and role that had been ingrained into its being.
All to serve this cycle.
With the help of the collective, this one could see its objective. A single living being. This one encoded that being, the time and place in its very makeup. It would be ready.
Noelle's eyes went wide.
It wasn't me.
Whatever her body was, the intelligence and purpose that lurked inside her other half, whatever these powers were. It had all gone to the wrong person.
Gone to the wrong person, askew from the beginning, then twisted further by her own psychological issues, messed up by the fact that she'd only taken half a dose.
The realization and the confusion that came with the vision were compounded as she stared at her surroundings.

rafuki22 · Dec 9, 2018

Yeah.

Xexilf said:
No comment on the weird memory?

What about that?

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

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